Corporate Angel Network recently arranged its 48,000th cancer patient flight and is on track to surpass 50,000 early next year. The latest milestone flight, which occurred on June 11, transported 48-year-old colon cancer patient James Etherton and his wife, Tammy, on Blue Beacon International’s Citation from treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to their home in Mechanicsburg, Ill.

“Tammy and I would like to express our appreciation to Corporate Angel Network and Blue Beacon for being so generous,” said Jim Etherton. “Once a month I need to fly to New York for treatment. The fact that they were able to alleviate the financial burden and stress of flying commercial will never be forgotten.”

Blue Beacon, a CAN participating company since 1992, also flew the Ethertons to treatment on June 6. “It was a good feeling to be able to help someone while doing my daily duties,” said Blue Beacon pilot Bill Breitenbach. “Blue Beacon was happy to assist in achieving this impressive milestone and we hope to do even more flights to help meet the next milestone.”

Each month, industry charity CAN arranges for an average of 250 cancer patients to fly to treatment in empty seats on business aircraft.