Modified Flight Plan

Most sixteen year-old kids joyride in Daddy's pickup. Not Brian Thomas. Instead, you find him out buzzing the football team in Daddy's airplane. Flying is his life—it's in his blood. Both of his parents are pilots. His older brother is in the Air Force. And he can't imagine himself as anything but an aviator. That is, until the bleeding disorder he's battled since he was two years old sidelines him. After several failed chemotherapy treatments, Brian opts for a potentially disease-curing, but risky spleen removal. After more chemotherapy, he regains his flight status, but now he's left with an altered immune system. In April of 2009, Brian leaves his job at Duncan Aviation, where he is an aviation mechanic, to go home with what he thinks is the flu. Four hours later, he is comatose and on life-support. His hands, feet, and face develop gangrene. Ten days later when he wakes up, he must face the prospect of becoming a quadruple amputee. Surgeons save his left hand, but he faces a long road to recovery, and regaining his life.

Lisa Kovanda Lisa's first published works were illustrated stories her grand-mother bound by hand into pasteboard fabric-covered books. A self-publishing pioneer before she'd reached third grade. After taking a thirty-year hiatus from fiction to raise a family, and a career in health care and retail, she returned to writing. Her short story, "Curls of Gold," was awarded first place from the 2009-2010 Bess Streeter Aldrich Foundation. Kovanda is a 2011 alumni of Lew Hunter's Screenwriting Colony. Her Colony script, "Til Death Do Us Part," was named a Top 25 Feature Script in the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival. It was also awarded the Bronze Oregon Screenplay in the 2012 Oregon Film Festival, and was a finalist in the Omaha Film Festival. Lisa is the current President of the Nebraska Writers Guild, Municipal Liaison for the Nebraska: Lincoln, and Nebraska: Else-where regions for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, and an active member of the Nebraska Writers Workshop, Local Muse, and a charter member of the Nebraska Film Association. Lisa lives in Lincoln, where her canine companions and nine grandchildren occupy her spare time. Other books by Lisa Kovanda: Reckless Abandon The Hunt Cedar in Seattle Brian Thomas You've likely spent a few hours reading Brian's biography, and if you haven't we suggest you turn to page one. This is Brian's first book. He's also co-authored the movie script based on this story. Brian is a member of the Nebraska Writers Guild, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), Experimental Aircraft Association, (EAA), Cessna Owners Association, Pilots of America, Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Society (AMT Society), and is a Certified Peer Visitor with Amputee Empowerment Partners.