Little Wings’ 500th mission flies into Coffs to celebrate with Amarni

LITTLE Wings, supported by St. George Bank, celebrated its 500th mission with a special festive flight visiting three families across regional NSW in one day.

Little Wings is a not-for-profit organisation that provides free professional safe flight and ground transport services for seriously ill children in rural and regional NSW, ACT and QLD.

Local family Shannon and Amarni Grant were chosen to enjoy this milestone flight.

Amarni was born with a complex congenital heart condition called double inlet left ventricle with transposition of the great arteries.

She has already undergone three major heart surgeries, with two more still to come.

“Because her care is highly specialised, we regularly fly with Little Wings to attend appointments and treatment in John Hunter Hospital and Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, where the appropriate cardiac teams are available,” Shannon told News Of The Area.

“Little Wings has helped our family in an enormous way by completely removing the stress of travel.

“They turn what would normally be a six-hour drive into a 40-minute flight and organise everything from transport to and from the airport to ensuring the correct car seat is available and even lending prams when needed.

“They have also supported us during emergency situations – most notably flying us home after we were airlifted to Sydney for seizures and discharged there without a transfer back to our local hospital.”

Without Little Wings, each appointment would add days of exhausting travel to an already challenging journey.

Shannon said that receiving the Christmas presents from St George and Westpac was “truly amazing”.

“It made Amarni feel incredibly special and brought so much joy during what is often a stressful and overwhelming time of year for our family.

“It also took a huge load of pressure off my shoulders and reminded us how supported and cared for we are.”

By Andrea FERRARI