Ruben Bamberger is four years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in March 2018. They immediately started with a standard chemo program. After a month, however, he had to switch to a high risk chemo-plan because he did not respond as well as expected.
Ruben is crazy about planes and his dream of a photo shoot with the mechanical birds with the big wings has been brought to the attention of the aviation family in Potchefstroom who immediately decided to organise a fly-in to aid Ruben’s parents with the astronomical cost of his lifesaving treatment.
A call was made to all flying fanatics with open hearts to participate in an initiative to realize a sick boy's dream and in the process raise funds for his treatment. No one could have anticipated the response.
Over sixty aircraft flew in from all over South Africa some as far as Nelspruit and Gariep Dam in the Free State proving once again that the aviation community in South Africa are a wonderful bunch of individuals.
Spekboom seedlings were on offer for a donation towards Rubens fund amongst other memorabilia, caps, beanies and lucky packets for the kids. The Spekboom (Portulacaria Afra) is a very special plant also known as Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, this indigenous evergreen is an environmental miracle worker, with the potential to tackle carbon emissions like no other plant can.
The Slouw Coffee company came to hear of Rubens plight and promptly decided to join the fly-in and donate the proceeds of the many cups of Barista Coffee to the fund, the coffee was an absolute winner as it was quite chilli on Saturday morning.
After a steaming hot cup of coffee everyone was invited to tuck into a scrumptious breakfast, which was donated by the Potch Flying Club all they asked for in return was a donation towards the Ruben Fund.
Ruben was taken for a flight in a Cessna 210 which he really loved, his parents were blown away by the generosity of the flying community and received many offers to visit pilots at their respective home basses.
It was heart-warming to see so many generous people coming together to support such a worthy cause and we wish Ruben a quick and complete recovery.
If anyone wants to contribute towards Rubens treatment please feel free to make a donation at the following bank account:
During the morning the glider pilots all walked around with their eyes pointed skywards and as soon as the small clouds started appearing they pulled their gliders out and took to the sky. Seeing these motor less flying machines really intrigued young Ruben.
A massive THANK YOU must go to everyone involved in organising this wonderful event as well as all the pilots and pax that heeded the call to support this remarkable young man.
Please Browse Our Gallery of the Generous Pilots in thier Flying Machines
