Nonprofit offers medical patients divine intervention: Angel Flight names Bethesda volunteer its Maryland Pilot of the Year

Bill Ryan/The Gazette

 Peter Winik, of Bethesda, who was chosen as Maryland Pilot of the Year by Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, points out safety features of his plane at Frederick Municipal Airport on Saturday.

Bill Ryan/The Gazette 
Peter Winik, of Bethesda, who was chosen as Maryland Pilot of the Year by Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, with his plane at Frederick Municipal Airport on Saturday.

Bill Ryan/The Gazette
Peter Winik, of Bethesda, who was chosen as Maryland Pilot of the Year by Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, with his plane at Frederick Municipal Airport on Saturday.

Paul Spearman knows it will not be long before he dies.

Diagnosed four years ago with a rare genetic disorder, Fabry’s disease, the 44-year-old is unable to process lipids — fat-like substances that include oils, waxes and fatty acids, according to the National Institutes of Health. Pain and shortness of breath have left him unable to work, or stand for more than 10-minute intervals.

“Now I can’t even work in a grocery store,” he said, in a telephone interview from his home in Georgetown, Del. “It got really hard, and each day got harder and harder. That’s when I explained to my doctor, and he said I was done, I was done working.”

His only hope is an experimental treatment in Fairfax, Va., that might add a few years to his life. But the distance presented a problem.

Spearman’s twice-monthly treatments, which he started about a year ago, were made possible by Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic pilot Peter Winik of Bethesda, and others like him.

Angel Flight is a nonprofit that recruits volunteer pilots to transport people in need of distant medical treatment.

More than once, Spearman was a passenger on Winik’s four-seat plane, a Cirrus SR22, which he stores at Frederick Municipal Airport.

Since Winik joined Angel Flight in 2009, the lawyer has flown 17 missions. For his charitable contributions, Angel Flight recently named him Maryland Pilot of the Year.

“All of our pilots are extraordinary, to be sure, but Peter stepped up to the plate more times, and that is pretty amazing considering that he’s not retired (as many of our pilots are) and works full time as an attorney,” Suzanne Rhodes, a spokeswoman for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, said in an email.

Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic stretches from Virginia to Ohio and Pennsylvania. The organization has more than 630 pilots and traces its roots to the mid-1970s, when four pilots decided to dedicate their skills to a good cause, and formed Washington Aviation Ministry. WAM became Mercy Medical Airlift in 1987, Angel Flight’s parent company.

Winik said he always wanted to fly, but cost and family responsibilities, like helping raise his two children, prevented him. He started taking lessons in 2007, after his youngest went to college. It took him nine months to get his pilot’s license, and another nine to get his instrument rating, a license that allows him to fly through the clouds.

He heard about Angel Flight through the flying community, and kept track of his hours until he had enough to qualify for missions. The 250 flight hours Winik needed has since been bumped up to 500 hours.

Volunteering for Angel Flight was a goal he targeted early in his flying career. As a young man, he was busy building his career and spending time with his children. Now middle-aged, he finally has time to give back.

“It’s really just a great feeling to be able to do something good with this skill we have of being able to fly,” Winik said.

Passengers of all ages are accepted but must demonstrate financial need, provide their own ground transportation and lodging, be medically cleared to fly in a nonpressurized small aircraft, be ambulatory and sit upright in a standard aircraft seat, not require medical care en route, not have a communicable disease and if supplemental patient oxygen is required, it must be provided by the patient and be in a Department of Transportation pressure test approved bottle.

Last year, Maryland pilots completed 36 missions, representing a public benefit of nearly $36,000. Of those, Winik flew eight.

Pilots provide the aircraft and handle all associated expenses, including fuel and maintenance. Prices vary, but Winik’s flights cost about $300 each.

“They’re angels, and that’s what I call them,” Spearman said. “They’re my angels, and they’re always there for me. If it’s safe, they fly. And they love doing it.”

Despite suffering short-term memory loss, Spearman said he remembers his pilots.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “I wish I could give something back to them. But with my situation, my financial situation and the condition I am in, I can’t.”

For more information, visit www.angelflightmidatlantic.org. To request a flight, call 800-296-3797. For questions regarding becoming a pilot, email Steve Craven at Steve@SteveCraven.net.

Source:  http://www.gazette.net