I remember putting the stretcher in the airplane and taking off into the rain and clouds for the 35-minute flight.

After docking on the side of the river, we loaded Antonia and the nurse onto the plane and quickly took off.

During the flight to Wewak, I kept looking at Antonia, less than a metre away from me.

I kept hoping she would make it and that she would have a chance to deliver her baby at the only hospital serving the 500,000 people living along the river.

Upon landing, we loaded Antonia in our van for the drive to Boram Hospital.

I will never forget the moment that my wife Kirsten and our three kids walked into the recovery room the next day to see Antonia sitting there holding a beautiful baby boy.

We had a chance to minister to her, her husband and her other child. The cool thing was that they gave him my name, Mark.

Over the years, I have stopped by to see Antonia and baby Mark in Kambanimbit.

In April this year, Kirsten and I had the opportunity to return to the village.

We landed on the river near the village and I saw Antonia in the group of 20-plus canoes that paddled out to the airplane.

Tears streamed down her face when she saw me standing on the side of the floatplane.

As some of you know, I had cancer a few years ago—lymphoma.

I had six months of chemo and five weeks of radiation, coming very close to dying.

News had gotten to her village that I had died, so she had done the ceremonial house cry, which is what you do when someone passes away.

You mourn them for three weeks and perform other ceremonial and cultural rituals.

For her to see me standing on the side of the floatplane, alive—the shock on her face, the tears, the reunion—it was incredible.

Kirsten and I had a chance to hug her and catch up on her life. We learned she had just become a grandma in the last couple of months! I asked her, "How's Mark doing?”

Mark is now 14 years old and is in boarding school at Vanimo, living with his aunt and doing really well.

I got a chance to speak with his aunt, who sent me an updated photo of Mark.

It's amazing to be part of lives saved and changed. Antonia just became a grandma and Mark looks fantastic in his school uniform!

These two lives were saved on one flight which transformed their family forever.

It’s an incredible thing to experience saving lives and sharing the hope we have in Jesus. That is what Samaritan Aviation is all about.

It is great to see the impact we are making 15 years later. We're so excited to see how God continues to grow the organisation.

Our flights were up 40% last year, meaning more lives are being saved and changed!