Sarah Fessler and her daughter Arianne make the seven-hour drive from Lander, Wyo., to Children’s Hospital in Denver every other month so the teenager can get treatment for her end-stage renal disease.
The trip is costly, and sometimes traffic and weather can make the journey unbearable.
But this month, Aero Angel, a nonprofit transportation organization, flew the 15-year-old and her mother by plane into Colorado, giving the family a much-needed break.
“I think it’s awesome what they are doing,” Sarah Fessler said. “Otherwise we would have to struggle with finances and drive down. In gas, it would be like a tank going and a tank coming. If we were real frugal with our money, it would cost us about $200.”
Aero Angel was founded a year ago by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pestal, who spends his professional life defending the federal government from lawsuits. But the 50-year-old’s passion is flying airplanes, and he decided he wanted to help others with his skills when he formed the nonprofit.
“I love flying, and it’s also a gift to help people,” he said. “It’s on my heart to put those two things together.”
In June, the U.S. attorney general will grant Pestal the Volunteer Award for Community Service during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., for his work on Aero Angel.
Arianne’s flight cost about $1,500, and Pestal relies on corporate and individual donations, reduced plane leases and raising money through coffee sales.
The first Aero Angel assignment was flying a family to reunite with their 7-year-old girl who had been abducted from Colorado.
Pestal didn’t have the funds on hand to do the flight, and it was on short notice, but he said he felt compelled to help because the family hadn’t seen the girl for 21 months and the spot where she was found was remote.
“After almost two years away from home, I was not going to make this little girl wait an extra hour to see her parents,” he said.
Pestal gets at least one request a day to do more medical flights but can’t take them all on until he gets more donations and more volunteer pilots. He wants to expand his services to include flights for wounded military veterans and their families.
Another goal is to help fly in children with life-threatening illnesses who want to attend Roundup River Ranch camp near Eagle each summer.
Anyone interested in donating or volunteering for Aero Angel can visit the organization’s website at .
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
