HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -
A Meridianville veteran, struggling with health problems will be hitching a ride on a private jet to see a doctor, thanks to a corps of volunteers.
Stanford Mendenhall is a September 11th hero and an Iraqi war veteran. His flight is scheduled to take off Tuesday morning from Madison County Executive Airport.
Mendenhall's ongoing fight is made tougher by the fact that he doesn't know what he's fighting.
VA doctors said they do not know whether it was Mendenhall's work with the army in Iraq or at Ground Zero in New York City after September 11th that is giving him health problems.
Mendenhall said it started after he had been in Iraq for a few months in 2004 and 2005. He said he suffered from back pain, then calcium and bone loss.
Later, doctors at a hospital told him he had congestive heart failure. Years later, he has been hoping for a trip to the Cleveland Clinic to get some answers but he didn't have a way there.
Mike Murdock, his jet, and Angel Flight Soars, are a nonprofit group of volunteer pilots who step in to transport medical patients in need to the care they need - all free of charge.
"First of all, it's a good excuse to go flying, which my copilot and I love to do. But mostly it's about helping the people because you meet such wonderful people," said Murdock.
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Stanford Mendenhall gets a free flight to VA hospital in Ohio from a Huntsville non-profit group.
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