Our Story

My five-year-old son Amory was diagnosed with Leukemia on July 12th, 2002. Amory and I have had many, many blessings since his diagnosis. The first blessing has been Angel Flight. As a single Mum with a sick child, travelling was quite an ordeal. 

Our first trip, before discovering Angel Flight, was returning from a two week stay at Children’s Hospital. As it was just the two of us, this was difficult. Amory was on a chemotherapy drug, dexamethasone, a steroid which makes children ravenously hungry for huge amounts of food but also makes them nauseous as their small stomachs are not used to the quantity of food. As Amory was also immune suppressed, we had to stay down below in the car, until such time as his screaming for food made it impossible for me to bear any longer. 

So, I waited until I thought the cafeteria was empty and carried Amory, running so as to try and keep him away from other people and germs until we reached the cafeteria. While in line Amory was very sick and crying, and me wondering how on earth we would manage this trip numerous times over the next three years of treatment. 

That was the last time we ever travelled on the ferry to Children’s Hospital. 

Amory and I met Jeff of Angel Flight, who treated us with the utmost kindness and compassion. There have been numerous times Jeff has carried Amory from my car, all the way to the plane, and then all the way from the plane to the car awaiting us at the South Terminal in Vancouver. This was no easy feat as my tiny five-year-old, at one point, gained 20 pounds in two weeks due to the medication! 

There have been days when I have arrived at the airport first thing in the morning with both Amory and I in tears as either he was so scared of his coming treatment and so sleep deprived from being up at night sick that neither of us could see straight. On these occasions Jeff and the Angel Flight pilot of the day have provided warm hugs to both distraught child and Mum, and words of compassion that have meant more than I can even begin to describe. 

One morning before we left for the airport, on a particularly rough day, Amory looked up at me and said, “Mummy I don’t think I am going to live very long”. I remember holding it together until I got to the plane and then having the kindness, and moral support of Jeff and the pilots, pull us both through and help us believe that we were going to beat this cancer. 

Ralph, Brent, Jim and John are all pilots that have flown with Amory to Vancouver. I would like it to be known that flying us is the least that these wonderful men do. Amory has actually been carried all the way from the airport in Victoria to the oncology clinic at Children’s Hospital.

Angel Flight allows Amory to be home in his own bed the very same day as his treatment. He can have a bone marrow biopsy, a lumbar puncture, chemo, needles, and all sorts of hell, and then fly home to his home, without having to travel for hours on the ferry feeling nauseous and miserable. 

It means the world to Amory, that for a few seconds, while he is gliding through a cloud, he can forget about what is ahead or what is in the past, and just be a little boy. Children should not have to go through cancer, it is not right. But when I see him enjoying a moment in a cloud, or feeling exhilarated when we take-off, I marvel at the ability of children to live in the moment and their strength and resilience. Without Angel Flight, such moments would not have taken Amory away from his cancer, and into the dream world of a child, even for the smallest moment in time. 

To everyone at Angel Flight that has given their love, support, time and compassion to Amory and I, we cannot begin to express our gratitude and respect. The capacity for the human spirit to extend itself in times of need astounds me every time the people at Angel Flight touch our lives. 

In love and gratitude, Rochana, and Amory.

Years later Amory went on to graduate as a Lawyer from UBC and is now practicing law in Vancouver. We are proud to have been part of his journey.