"If You Have To Tear Down the Door!"
In a bungalow in Florida, 84-year-old Marie lay unconscious. Two thousand miles away, her daughter Iris, an army master sergeant, was taking leave to be with her best friend during the birth of her baby. Her job in the army was to train soldiers preparing to depart for Iraq. She never dreamed she would soon be fighting for the dearest life: her mother's.
She received a call that no one had heard from her mother in two days and that the trash can was still out front and the mailbox full.
"I called the fire department and told them if they had to tear down the door, get in there!" Iris recalled.
Firefighters found Marie in the hallway, semi-paralyzed, dazed, and weak. She was taken to a Jacksonville hospital, where her prognosis was grim: she had suffered a stroke and sustained injuries from her fall.
After being granted extended leave, Iris frantically began to arrange medical care and transportation for her mom.
"After two weeks of looking for medical air transportation, we found Air Ambulance Angels East. The mission coordinator became our advocate and went above and beyond." Within a week, Iris and Marie were on an air ambulance bound for Texas.
"All of her family is in Texas. She was alone in Florida," Iris explained. "She's raised a bunch of kids who have each served their country, and she is one amazing woman."
With the help of Air Ambulance Angels and her devoted daughter, Marie will face down another day in the proud tradition of her family.
