It’s called the Mercy Medical Airlift Program. Using volunteers and private donations, this group recently passed the 100,000 mark on its flights that ferry patients to medical care.
Richard Norris suffered horrific injuries to his face in a 1997 gunshot accident. For 15 years, he lived as a hermit, only leaving his house at night and then wearing a mask to cover his disfigured visage. In 2007, Norris began five years of surgeries at the University of Maryland medical school in Baltimore that finally allowed him in 2012 to re-enter society.
Forty different pilots of the Mercy Medical Airlift program provided 98 flights to Norris between his home in southwest Virginia and his treatments in Baltimore.
Norris said to the audience he was grateful to the airlift for their help. “Your dedication has made my transplant a reality.”
