EXPRESS AIR MEDICAL TRANSPORT VOLUNTEERS TO HELP SICK BOY AND MOTHER WITH FLIGHT HOME TO TEXAS
UPDATE 3/7/17
See News 12 Westchester’s
Coverage of the Flight. Click Here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Valhalla, NY, February 14, 2017–Express Air Medical Transport announced today that the company will fly Robert Fausto, 5, and his mother, Rene Gonsales, from New York back to their home state of Texas on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.
Rene Fausto had stopped working so she could travel to New York to seek treatment for her son, who suffers from ALD, a degenerative, incurable nerve disease that affects the brain. While preparing to transfer Robert back to a hospital closer to their home in Houston, it became clear the family would not be able to afford to make the trip. A GoFundMe page was set up, but even nearly $1,700 in generous donations was not going to be enough to cover the estimated $20,000 it was going to take to transfer Robert safely home.
“I made a donation to the GoFundMe page and watched it every day,” said Ken Fox, President of Express Air Medical Transport. “Helping this boy and his mother get home was just the right thing to do. Money raised privately and online was used to help with fuel costs.”
ALD, or Adrenoleukodystrophy, is one of a group of genetic disorders called the leukodystrophies that causes damage to the myelin sheath, an insulating membrane that surrounds nerve cells in the brain. There is no known cure for this condition and the disease will progress but all efforts are being made to slow it down.
Transporting Robert: Hospital & Flight Information
Express Air Medical Transport will be picking up Robert at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York and transporting him to Memorial Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. They will fly out of Westchester County White Plains Airport (HPN) and arrive at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) between 5 and 7pm, depending on the weather. Relief Ambulance Services of Houston as agreed to donate transportation to the hospital for Robert and his mom.
Please follow the Express Air Medical Transport Facebook & Twitter pages Wednesday afternoon for a more exact arrival time as Robert ‘s flight gets underway.
About Express Air Medical Transport
Express Air Medical Transport is a veteran owned, direct operator, specializing in “one-call” emergency and non-emergency air ambulance flights, long distance ground transportation and medical escorts nationwide and internationally. They just celebrated the opening of a new North Las Vegas Base, joining existing bases in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Lakeland, Florida. Learn more about Express Air Medical Transport at: http://www.expressairmed.com