Jess Ames and Maddy Beck sit down with Michael Henricks, a husband and father who once tried Angel Flight’s Compassion Flight. He recounts how they flew her daughter to Boston for a medical operation, significantly reducing their trip to just an hour and 45 minutes. Michael shares how Angel Flight saved them not just time but even the life of her beloved girl. He also celebrates the strength and resilience of his wife and older daughter throughout this challenging journey.

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Michael’s Daughter

In this episode, we have a new Compassion Flight passenger, Michael. Michael, do you want to tell our readers a little bit about your situation and what got you into Angel Flight?

Hopefully, I can get it together.

Don't make us cry. We're not good at crying this late in the day.

I'm all crying. There's something in my eye. It's weird.

Team Sweaty eyes over here, so don't worry. It's fine.

 

 

We cry all the time.

I have a five-year-old daughter. I guess I just think about the path that we've taken and all that. I have to be honest. If you knew me and you knew what I did for a living, you'd never expect me to be like this 3 seconds into a story. I have a five-year-old daughter. She was born with a laryngeal cleft. What happened is her trachea didn't close all the way. Basically, she had a V from her vocal cords down.

At first, it was diagnosed as acid reflux. She was having issues feeding from a bottle. She would sound noisy. She had a quick delivery. The delivery was so quick. Apparently, when you go through the birth canal, you're squeezed. As you go through, these fluids that are part of a baby come out. They were like, "She had a quick delivery. That fluidness you hear in her, that's just those fluids."

As time progressed, nothing changed. She was diagnosed with acid reflux, which is common in babies. As time progressed, that didn't go away. We were recommended to go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor. He thought he saw this defect at the top of her esophagus trachea area. We were on this course to try to confirm. He initially thought it was this laryngeal cleft. We were put on this course to confirm that. She was diagnosed at CHOP with this condition.

There are four types of it. It may have changed, but at the time, there were four types of it. When you have this type of defect, what it's based off of, your trachea is basically like rings as it goes up. One and two, it's the depth of the cleft. Three is deeper than 1 and 2. It is extremely rare. Four goes all the way down and is fatal. She was diagnosed with type three. It's not like the news that you want to hear when you have a kid. I can tell you what I was wearing that day.

My wife and I were very upset. We looked at our options. We went home, and I did every ounce of research I could humanly do. I found that there was a doctor in Boston Children's who was like the guy for this. I ended up emailing him. We went back and forth and he said, "Yeah, bring her up." CHOP as a whole had done, for the type of cleft that she has, I think, like six. Our doctor in Boston, he himself has done twenty. It was like a no-brainer as to what we were going to do.

We packed up the car, and as Dropkick Murphy said, we shipped up to Boston. There are two ways to go about this repair. There's a less evasive endoscopic procedure. They go down through the mouth, they laser the sides, they sew it shut, and they pray to God it holds. There's a more invasive procedure where it's called an open procedure, where they actually make an incision in the neck.

They take a piece of tissue that covers your bones from your leg. They go in, sew it shut, put the skin over it as a graft, and basically rebuild that area. It involves a trach tube, the whole nine yards. Obviously, that's something that we wanted to avoid. She, at the time, was being fed via a feeding tube. At first, it was through the nose and into the stomach. We had problems with that. After that, it was through the nose into her intestine.

We go up to Boston, and they do the first procedure. Our fingers are crossed. We come home and she has a new feeding tube that goes in her stomach. It branches out. One line goes to the intestine, and one line goes in the stomach, and she's fed through the one that goes into the intestine. That's how we started this. We went up to Boston. I came home, and my wife, her name is Maddox, did not. They stayed up there. Just some complications and swelling. We got through that, but the procedure wasn't as successful as we had hoped. The doctor had said that he was going to do it in stages. We kept going at it. We would drive up. We're from the Philadelphia area, so a drive to Boston is not as appealing and as exciting as one would think.

As things progressed, we were optimistic but the procedure just wasn't working. She was diagnosed early on in 2019. This is 2021. Now, we're in 2024. We've gotten to the point where the endoscopic procedure failed, and we had no other option but to do the open procedure, which we've been trying to avoid. Up until that time, the last endoscopic one she had was the end of the summer in 2023. We gave it our all. We would normally come home, she would run into some breathing issues, we'd end up down at DuPont and she would be at DuPont for a couple of weeks while they tried to get her stable. There was a whole litany of things that happened in between. There was respiratory failure, CPR at home. You name it, we went through it.

When we did this last procedure, we gave it our all. My wife and Maddox moved up there for about 4 or 5 weeks. They were in Boston. We have an older daughter. In August, we would go up on the weekends, try to make the best of what we could and then drive home. It wasn't a pleasant experience, I did it because of my wife and my oldest daughter. That was it.

That procedure failed and here we are. We did the open procedure, and they were in Boston for about six weeks. Once again, it was tough. Commuting back and forth, it's a pain. It's like a five-and-a-half-hour drive. When we were looking to go up, there was a huge tanker explosion in Connecticut. It shut down 95. Not that we used 95, but all the feeder roads, people would be on that, traffic was going to be a nightmare. We were looking at minimized time of all being together. That's how I came into Angel Flights.

I don't know what to say. Your story is just extremely powerful. From our side of things, a lot of people don't know, we do Compassion Flights. Keeping families together like yours is just incredibly important. The fact that your wife and daughter who is receiving the treatment had to stay in Boston for six weeks while you had to be at home, still working and caring for your other daughter. The fact that we could bring you all together rather than driving to Boston, which is a nightmare, we all know, from Philadelphia, I just am thankful that you're sharing your story, we were able to help you and continue to help you.

Impact Of The Entire Family

It's huge. I keep telling people, “Maddox is going to be fine. She's going to come out of this.” I'm worried about my wife and my oldest daughter, the effects that it has on them. That's what I'm worried about. Maddox now has a trach tube. You'd have no clue. Nothing has stopped that kid. However, the amount of stress that her mom and I are under is insane, the care that goes into that. You look at my older daughter, it's just like, how do we navigate a normal life for her as much as possible? How do we allow her to do what she needs to do, but also have another daughter that can't necessarily do everything? It's not fair to my older daughter that she can't do something because Maddie can't participate in that.

"Fathers must learn how to navigate challenging times and make them less impactful on everyone else in their families."

She can't spend as much time with her mom because her mom's in Boston. It was how do we navigate this so that it's less impactful on everyone? That has been my goal and my struggle. My wife is focused on Maddie and her health and that's what moms do. I sit there and worry about everybody else. How do we navigate that?

Angel Flights was huge in that. They turned a 5-and-a-half-hour drive into 1 hour and 45 minutes. It's not an hour and 45 minutes of staring at the inside of a plane. It's an hour and 45 minutes of seeing parts of the country that you don't see when you're driving to Boston. Overall, it's an hour and 45 minutes. I could do an hour and 45 minutes standing on my head. A five-and-a-half-hour drive, dealing with traffic. Nothing against people in Massachusetts, but they drive very differently than people down here.

 

 

You can say it. They do.

Going the speed limit, when the guy in front of you in the left lane is doing 65, the guy next to you is doing 64 and a half for about an hour. That adds stress to it as well. Having the opportunity to just get in a plane, take an hour and 45 minutes and you're there was huge.

Are you also okay with us sharing what you do professionally for your such lack of stress job?

 I am in law enforcement. In particular, I deal with child exploitation cases.

It’s like, “No problems. Just going to go to work and have a calm day.” Are you kidding me?

I'm not going to lie, work is actually a huge distraction. When I'm up in Boston, it's not like I'm thinking about work, but I'm like, “I want to go back to work.” I have that stress and I have this stress. Everything's fine.

The burning dog. That's what I was thinking of. Everything's fun as everything is on fire behind him. That is exactly what my mind went to.

Yes. That's exactly what it is. As I said, Maddie's going to be okay. She's going to be fine. There are kids that aren't. You go into CHOP or Boston Children's and you see kids and parents. They're not going to come out as a family. That hurts. I'm not going through that. I am, but I'm not. I couldn't imagine dealing with that, dealing with the stress of, you have that situation, you're sending your kid to what you think is the best hospital in the world, and it takes you seven hours to drive there.

You're leaving part of your family there because you still have to work. Those people are heroes. Not me. Those people are. Your pilots are heroes because of what they're doing and how they're doing it. I don't think people really understand the impact. It's one less thing you have to worry about. That's huge. All right. I clearly have something in my eyes.

It’s because you're sitting outside. There must be a lot of bugs back there.

The pollen is high.

Just before you got on, Michael and I, I was opening a seltzer water. I was like, "I promise it's water." He was like, "I thought about having a beer."

We should have all done it. That would've been our first episode cracking a beer.

It's happy hour time. We would never say no.

I feel like I have many regrets of not having a beer with this episode.

Flying With Angel Flight

Tell us a little bit about your flight. You came from Wings Field. You literally crossed the street. Did you drive to the parking lot?

We did drive to the parking lot, just because we had luggage. Our flight was for Maddy's birthday. She turned five on May 5th, 2024. That was a Sunday. My older daughter had a swimming thing and we didn't really want her to miss it. Leaving Saturday after swimming, it would've been like a five-hour-plus drive. We're coming back Sunday. Our flight, we met the pilot at 10:00. He came up from New Jersey. Literally, it was amazing. As I said, the flight was at 10:00. We left the house at 9:45. We drove right over, parked, and met you guys. We got on the plane and we took off. It was awesome.

I think you flew with Frank Becker.

We did.

He is incredible. He's such a nice guy. They're all nice. Frank was our pilot of the year a couple of years ago, and he continues to go above and beyond for people.

Yeah, he mentioned that. It was smooth. I know a lot of people, including my wife, would never get in a small private plane like, “It's going to be rough. It's going to be bumpy." It was smoother than driving in the car. It was great. My older daughter fell asleep. I talked to Frank the whole time. We talked about everything. We talked about planes. A wealth of knowledge. It was cool to just have this conversation, look out the window and see parts of our drive that I would never normally see from a completely different angle.

"Many people may refuse to ride a private plane, but Angel Flight made their trips smoother than driving in a car."

It's such a different experience going in general aviation. I feel like now that you've been in general aviation, you're like, "I don't really want to do other stuff."

Since the airport is across the street, nobody wants to travel to the Philadelphia airport with all the traffic and everything, going through the TSA. It's just like, "Isn't there an easier way?"

That's the thing. A flight to Boston, let's say it's an hour and a half or an hour and 45 minutes on a big commercial jet. You got to be there two hours before. You got to go through TSA, you're going to wait, and you're going to land. I'm sure for a weekend trip, hopefully, you just have carry-on luggage. You're in and out. On Sunday, you got to go do the whole thing all over again.

The amount of shampoo you can bring.

For me, that's very big. That's a whole added stress to that environment. Me dragging an eight-year-old through an airport with just me and her getting on a plane, is that a cool experience for her? Absolutely. For me? No. Not at all. With what I do for a living, I'm surprised my kid is allowed out of the house. I'm going to take her to a major airport. I thought about cool different ways of how can I make this cool for her? A car, we did that. It's not cool. I thought about taking her on a train. That would be neat but it's the same amount of time. Something like this was awesome. It was a great experience for her and less stress for me.

Can you tell us how you heard about Angel Flight? I know our referral source will probably be reading and we want to give him a shout-out.

I have known about Angel Flights for a while. Mainly, obviously, because we're right across the street. You guys do a Wings and Wheels event at the end of the summer. We walk to it. We have a great time. Throughout this whole process, countless people have told us, "You got to get with Angel Flights.” Finally, I decided that, “Okay, this is going to be it. I'm going to do this.” We went to Angel Flights. I reached out through the website. Ultimately, a friend hooked us up. That's how it was.

I've always known about it. I never pulled the trigger because part of me is, with what I've seen in life, there are people who deserve it much more than I do. I felt like there are people that need this more than I. I don't want to go to Angel Flights and take a flight from someone that is needing it for medical care or their kid is never coming out of the hospital or something like that. I think I just didn't understand a lot of it. Once I got flowing with it, I got the gist of it.

I just internally face-palmed when you said that because I'm like, "Just let us love you." Please use and abuse us. Let us help you get to where you need to go." I feel like every time somebody says, like, "Yeah, I've heard of it, but I never thought that I was in need enough, or I didn't think that my situation was dire enough," I'm always like, "Call me, please.”

 

 

We're desperate.

I know. It's tough. I'm not the type that sits there and says, "Yeah, I need help." i've blazed this path. I've done a lot of it on my own. Obviously, my wife is a rock and has really blazed the path before me. I don't want to pat myself on the back because I'm not that type of person by any means. I'm the one that went out and found the doctor. I'm the one that spoke to the doctor. I'm the one that put all this in motion. To sit here and have a great organization like you guys be like, "We'll fly you up," I’m like, "There are people out there that need it more than me," and that was a tough hump to get over.

Even now, we had looked at doing another flight on Memorial Day weekend. I still felt bad. We just had one, like, "It's Memorial Day weekend. It's not fair to a pilot who's got to take time away from his family or her family to fly us up. It's not fair." It was tough to get over but talking to David, he was like, "No, dude, just call us. We'll do it." I'm like, "I get it, but it's still tough.”

The pilots love to fly and I think they'll find any excuse to fly, no matter what day, what holiday it is. They just want to fly their airplanes.

 

 

We literally had a pilot who is literally asking David if he could fly on Father's Day. He was like, "I may get divorced over this, but do you have anything?" Trust us, they're willing to go.

I understand that. I've done a lot in my life on my own. It's tough. It's not a control thing, by any means. It's just tough accepting that, hands down. I get that. That pilot that wants to fly on Father's Day, that's amazing. My wife missed Mother's Day. She was in Boston. It's not the Mother's Day that she wanted. It's not fair to her. For me, Father's Day, there better not be a thing because it's not fair to her. That's me. I get that that pilot is all excited about it, but it would be tough. It would be very tough. I think that's a hurdle that I have to get over.

Let us know. We'll give you one.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Your story is inspirational, you are definitely one of the strongest people we've talked to. I know Maddie and I definitely would not be able to handle the amount of stress you are under. You just tell your story beautifully.

That's what I was just going to say. I don't think I could handle you asking me that question. I feel like I'd be a puddle 24/7.

I'm not strong. My daughter is the strongest person I know. Both my daughters. You have one that's dealing with a medical situation. You have another one that's dealing with the same situation. For 8 going on 9, she is extremely mature. They're the strongest people. I'm not strong. It's them, hands down. My wife as well. They're the foundation and the rock of this family. I'm just there to make sure nobody messes with them.

I don't want to cry right now. I didn't open a beer yet.

There's a picture that always sticks in my mind of a lioness sitting there staring at whatever, the photographer, because he's taking the picture. Right behind her is the lion. I'll tell you what. A lioness will destroy you just as much as a lion. That's my wife, 100%. That's me standing behind her because God forbid, she starts to lose, then you're going to have to deal with me. As I said, she is the strongest person and so are my daughters. I'm not strong. Sorry, I have to disagree with you guys on that.

“A lioness will destroy as much as a lion.”

Closing Thoughts

All right, we'll let you have it. We can go have our moment of sweaty eyes. What is one final thought to share with our readers?

Don't be afraid to just accept help. You guys are there. You guys are a great organization. Everyone that I've dealt with and talked to has been awesome. Not a single person have I ever gotten a feeling of judgment from. That's what I worry. I worry about that with my daughter, that somebody's going to look at her because she has a trach tube and a feeding tube and they're going to look at her differently.

Don't be afraid. Just do it. It's an awesome experience. It's quick and easy, no matter where you got to go. In our case, we’re flying to Logan International Airport. If you're flying into a regional airport, like Wings, slightly bigger, depending on where you go, there's nothing to be afraid of. There's nothing to be ashamed of. It helps, so just do it. In the words of Nike, just do it.

Thank you so much, Michael. You are amazing. Shout-out to the rest of the Henricks family. You guys are also amazing. We cannot wait to meet you.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.

See you in September.

Sounds like a plan. Take care.

Episode Wrap-up

I have no words after Michael.

We were just saying, I think that was our best. They're all really good episodes, but that just told the story of Compassion Flights better than I think we could ever tell it again.

Yeah. For those who are reading and not actually looking at us, I don't think my face has left my hands that whole time. My brain can't fully comprehend every single thing that that family has gone through. He's emotional, of course. Who wouldn't be? He is just like, "This is what we're dealt with and this is what we're going to get through." I'm like, "What??

I just cry. Just the fact he is always concerned about his older daughter, making everything a good experience for her, I was like, "I wish all men were like you. Let's just clone him."

I'm like, "My dad is getting a copy of this episode, sir. Need you to read this."

That was amazing. He’s right in our backyard. I can't believe it. We should have done the episode live from our office with a lot of beers. I feel like we all need it.

It was good being back with you guys. We'll be back again. Jess and I are talking about changing the schedule, so we'll figure it out. We'll let you know.

We'll keep you posted. You know we will.