I approached Scotty about me desire to do this and was so grateful at not only his willingness, but also his enthusiasm to be a part of this, donating his time and talent. Scotty met with me about a month prior to the flight to familiarize me with the plane, how to get in and out, as well as the parachute. I will admit that I felt a lot of anxiety, but his calm, confident and caring nature quickly put that to ease. On the day of the flight he walked through the process again, still with the same level of reassurance.
We got in the plane, secured the door and began our taxi to the runway and all of the sudden it became very real. I will admit that along with the excitement there were a few tears and a bit of panic. I thought of all of those individuals and families that we were doing this for and panic turned to purpose. Once we were in the air, I was completely overcome with how beautiful it was. Scotty let me take over and steer the plane. What an unexpected thrill. As he took back the controls he told me to keep my eyes open as we flew in a backwards full circle, followed by a complete sideways turn. As scary, as it was, it was also pretty powerful.
With Alzheimer’s being the 6th leading cause of death, facing the fear of what that will mean to not only the individual , but those that love them most is something far too many people are facing every day. It is estimated that 5.7 million people are living with Alzheimer’s disease in America, with over 16 million people caring for them. I am so incredibly grateful to Scotty and Elevate Our Vets for helping me not only face one of my greatest fears, but more importantly helping me to honor those facing Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
