RALEIGH, N.C. — A nonprofit in North Carolina is helping children in need of special medical treatment get to the right doctors, even if they're hundreds of miles away.
What You Need To Know
- Children's Flight of Hope is a North Carolina nonprofit organization
- The organization provides air transportation for kids in need of special medical treatment
- Hops for Hope is Sept. 10 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Raleigh
- Amber Lunn is childhood cancer survivor
For Amber Lunn, her big sister Ashley and their best friend Chloe, at least for a brief second, jumping on the trampoline can feel like flying. The middle schoolers have spent nearly every day playing together after school for the last three years.
"The best part is just hearing their laughter while I'm inside, and they're experiencing childhood like I did," said Amanda Lunn, Amber and Ashely's mom.
Looking back nine years ago to 2013, the Lunns didn't know if they'd see the day of their daughters playing together.
"In 2013, there was a day everything was OK, then in a moment, I wasn't even sure if she was going to survive," Lunn said.
At 23 months old, Amber was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of childhood eye cancer known as bilateral retionblastoma. Only about 200 to 300 children are diagnosed with retinoblastoma each year in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.
"Since she was about 2 weeks old, I saw a white glow in her eye, and I didn't realize that was a warning sign, that is not normal in humans, I spoke up about it at our well visits, but it was never present then because it would come and go," Lunn said.
After a visit with a pediatric optomologist, Lunn said they decided to find a doctor who specialized in treating this specific type of eye cancer.
"We could go to Duke or we could go to another hospital that was farther away. We started here locally because it was more convenient, but they wanted to do six rounds of systemic chemotherapy, only the first two would actively kill or shrink the tumor, and then after that it would hold them steady," Lunn said.
Through community efforts, Lunn found the best doctor for the job at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. The catch: it was almost 500 miles each way to get there.
"In the beginning, we were going every four weeks through chemotherapy and various check-ups," Lunn said. "It was trying, I had one 2-year-old and one 1-year-old. We both had jobs, trying to manage finances and going back and forth to the doctor."
That's when Children's Flight of Hope stepped in. The nonprofit organization is based in North Carolina and offers air transportation to kids in need of specialized medical care across the country. They fly patients and their caregivers to treatments throughout the duration of their medical journey.
The Lunns have been recipients of about 40 flights through Children's Flight of Hope.
"They really help families like mine who have children with medical needs, that need assistance getting to the experts so that there child can have the best life possible," Lunn said.
While Amber doesn't have her right eye, there is nothing she can't do.
"Sometimes it can be a little hard when I'm playing a game on my iPad, but I can always see because it's right in front of me," said Amber Lunn, who is now 10 years old.
The year 2015 was the last moment a live tumor was in Amber's eye. Since then, she goes to check-ups once a year in New York.
"The next time we go, we start the next phase, the survivorship clinic to monitor for any secondary cancers," Lunn said.
While Amber is free of eye cancer, she is at risk for the potential of other cancer.
"What I did not know is one of the long term side effects of the medications is Leukemia. It's something she'll have to be conscious of the rest of her life. It's hereditary so if she's able to have children, they have a 50% chance of having it," Lunn said.
But the Lunns remain hopeful.
"I can trust she's in the best hands possible. My daughter may not be here today if Children's Flight of Hope didn't come to our rescue and take something off our plate," Lunn said.
So far this year, Children's Flight of Hope has sponsored more than 800 flights for children and their caregivers.
The organization is all made possible by donations and partnerships with companies and community groups. Their annual fundraiser, Hops For Hope, is being held Saturday, Sept. 10 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in North Hills Midtown Park in Raleigh.
Tickets are available and all proceeds will go to Children's Flight of Hope.