Every once in a while, we have heroes that step up
Tony Aldapa is such a person.
On Dec 14, 2020, Tony took United Airlines Flight #591 from Orlando to Los Angeles. In the middle of the flight, another passenger had a medical emergency had coronavirus. Tony and a couple of other passengers performed CPR for about 45 minutes as the flight was diverted to New Orleans. The man was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
"My whole mindset... was this individual needed CPR," says Tony. "Regardless of anything else... CPR was the primary thing that he needed... this is my life, I love helping people."
After the flight, the entire situation made news. For weeks United was quiet about it and did not want to give attention to the story. Finally, they emailed him a voucher for $200 for his “help/inconvenience on the flight”. $200? Really?
This made me want to do more. Upon seeing Tony's tweet about another upcoming trip that he was going to make to Orlando for his 33rd birthday, I decided to take action and bought his airline ticket to celebrate his heroism.