Cancer doesn’t care how old you are or where you live.

For the parents of little Tiberius B., the reality of his B-cell Lymphoma diagnosis in the summer of 2013 was overwhelming.

Doctors at Miami Children’s Hospital told the Key West family that their three-year-old would need weekly chemotherapy treatments to beat the cancer which targets immune cells in the body.

The prospect of a weekly four hour drive, each way, with a miserable toddler in the back seat for half the trip was daunting.

“You can’t imagine how horrible it was,” said Landon, Tiberius’s father. “The first time we drove back from Miami, he was so sick from his chemotherapy. We didn’t know what to do.”

The boy’s mother learned about Angel Flight Southeast and was soon connected with their “angel in the air” Fouad “Sam” Samaha. An Angel Flight Southeast pilot since 2005, Samaha signed up to take all of the boy’s weekly flights over the course of two months of treatment.

“He donated so much of his time and his airplane,” said Landon. “He’d sit at the airport during our appointment and read a book until it was time to fly home.” Angel Flight Southeast pilots donate their time, fuel and airplanes to transport passengers to life-saving medical treatments.

Tiberius, now age four, goes to school, “runs around like a maniac” and is cancer free. The only reminder Tiberius has from his illness is a scar on his chest from the chemo port.