Special journey for Saoirse (6)
A young girl from Sligo was last week flown to Dublin for medical treatment, thanks to BumbleAir.
BumbleAir transports sick children across Ireland for medical treatment via helicopter. Launched in 2017, it has improved the lives of many sick children and their families by cutting travelling time and stress. Saoirse Heron, who has a Wilms tumour, and travels to Dublin for chemotherapy every third Wednesday took off from Sligo Airport in Strandhill with her parents, Shane and Tonia. BumbleAir is a new wing of BumbleAnce - the charity that transports sick children across Ireland for medical treatment.
BumbleAir had a very special event planned for Valentine’s Day that got moved to tomorrow due to bad weather and Ryan can’t wait...
“Normally, she travels by car which can take hours and be very stressful. Tomorrow, we will fly her from Sligo to Dublin in one hour,” said pilot, Ryan Hanrahan in advance of the flight.t. He added: “Our first flight was so well received, we had many people contact us to say what a fantastic service this is for the sick children. We have received a donation from a Dublin business that will allow us to fund five more flights.
“We now have funding in place for twelve missions - this is fantastic as it means that we can help twelve families who have to constantly struggle with their journeys to Dublin for treatments.
“We have upgraded to a larger aircraft a Bell 206 which can carry three passengers in the back and more luggage for their overnights in Dublin.
“So far we have raised 15k for flights, this will fund twelve missions. These flights will be from all areas of Ireland to Dublin. The flights have a profound effect on the kids and their families and we are super excited that there are people willing to help us help those families struggling on their journeys. Our aim is to do 24 missions over the next year - about two a month.”