'Angels' in the sky help patients receive care in Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- People come to Houston's Medical Center for world-renowned care, but not everyone can get there to take advantage of treatment. Angels in the sky are helping people at their very worst and at absolutely no cost.

One of those angels is pilot Jeff Clarke. He volunteers his time and his money to shuttle people in need of medical care from their homes to Houston for treatment.

He flew from Sugar Land to Gilmer in east Texas to pick up someone he had never met before.

"It's just part of giving back and the neat thing is we get to do it, doing what we love, which is flying airplanes," Clarke said.

Clarke is one of 240 pilots in Southeast Texas who volunteer for Angel Flight South Central. That branch of Angel Flight covers five states and flies 2,000 missions a year.

Clarke says he donates about $8,000 of his own money each year.

"I think every bit of it has an impression. Makes an impression on you and you're grateful for the fact you are not having to go through some of the things people are going through," Clarke said.

One of Clarke's most recent passengers was 56-year-old Michael Daniels. Daniels was diagnosed with stage three Melanoma, and the cancer spread to his lungs, stomach, and brain. His doctors are in Houston, but he lives 400 miles away in Hot Springs, Ark.

Support for people like Daniels doesn't stop there. Clear Lake resident Ken Wilson picked up Daniels from the airport and drove him locally, also for free.

"It gives me hope. It's positive that I'm doing something that's helping them out. It's amazing to see these people and what they're going through just rise above that," Wilson said.

Without a flight and a ride to treatment, Daniels said he may not be alive today.

"I should be dead right now, they said. I'm here, thank God," Daniels said.

He used Angel Flight to get to his most recent checkup at MD Anderson, where he received some good news. Doctors told him he is now cancer free.