Man Working to Become Medical Pilot After Being Saved by One as a Child

The experiences we go through in our youth can have a resounding effect on our adulthood. When Thayne Yazzi was a child, he went through an experience that changed the course of his life forever and influenced his goal to one day become a medical pilot.

More than 15 years ago, Yazzi, now 25, fell out of a tree while playing and was rendered unconscious. Normally, a parent or someone would just call an ambulance. The issue was, Yazzi grew up in a Navajo reservation in Arizona, devoid of running water and electricity. His parents drove him to the nearest hospital, where doctors quickly discovered that they did not have sufficient medical equipment to help him.

Thankfully, an airborne medical ambulance was contacted, and Yazzi was saved.

“They’re taking me somewhere I’m going to be okay…things are going to work out,” he told Inside Edition, recalling his flight. He remembered waking up fully healed the next day, being taken for ice cream and a visit to a museum.

That experience instilled in him the need to help his community on the reservation the same way he was helped as child, and began working to get his medical pilot’s license.

Yazzi started a GoFundMe account to help pay for the required lessons, and in return he sends a piece of Navajo folklore artwork to his donators. The campaign awarded him a $10,000 scholarship to help with the lessons.

“The Navajo reservation is still suffering from a lot of medical transportation [problems] and just medical help in general. There’s not a lot of service out there,” he said. “That’s my mission now, to be able to give that service.”

Yazzi hopes to attend the Eastern New Mexico Flight School, obtain his MedEvac license, and one day be able to teach his community about the benefits of airborne medical assistance.