April Shaw was told by doctors that she likely wouldn't live to see college, so instead they suggested her mother start saving for a funeral. Fourteen years after that prognosis, the 16-year-old from Westland spent Sept. 25, 2026 soaring above the Metro Detroit area in a helicopter, one of several people with severe disabilities who took to the sky that day over Oakland County.
A Diagnosis That Wasn't Supposed to Allow This
Shaw was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at age 2, according to ClickOnDetroit. Her mother, Andrea Mitcham, said doctors initially told her not to save for April's college but for her funeral. Mitcham has since said that God defied the prognosis 14 years later, watching her daughter grow into a teenager who found herself thousands of feet above Oakland County instead of confined by the limits doctors once predicted.
Shaw described her own approach to living with the condition in simple terms, telling the station, “You just, you'll just do it. You just have to figure out your way to do it.” That mindset dovetailed with the mission of the organization that arranged her flight: Danny's Miracle Angel Network, a nonprofit built specifically around removing barriers and creating inclusion for people with disabilities.
The Nonprofit Born From a Brother's Tragedy
Danny's Miracle Angel Network, also known as the D-MAN Foundation, was founded by Ziad Kassab, who goes by Z, to honor his late brother Danny. Danny was paralyzed after being hit by a car at age 7 and depended on a ventilator, 24-hour nursing care and a power wheelchair for the rest of his life, according to the station's report. Kassab has said his brother's injury caused a major change for his family, one that ultimately shaped the nonprofit he would go on to build.
The organization's own website describes itself as dedicated to enriching the lives of families and individuals living with physical and mental disabilities, with a goal of giving people with quadriplegia and other severe disabilities the opportunity to achieve the highest quality of life possible, according to mydman.org. Kassab has said the reward of the work is unbelievable, per the same account.
Helicopter Rides Join a Growing List of Experiences
D-MAN runs helicopter rides multiple times a year, part of a broader slate of programming designed to promote inclusion and break down barriers for its clients. The nonprofit's documented work also includes a Barrier Free Music Therapy Recording Studio, based at its Berkley headquarters, and an Assisted Travel Program that provides knowledge, experience, coordination and financial support so disabled clients can pursue their travel goals, per mydman.org.
The organization is perhaps best known locally for the cruises it organizes for people with disabilities, including its signature event transferring wheelchair users into convertibles for rides down Woodward Avenue during the Woodward Dream Cruise. The tradition dates back at least to 2021, when ClassicCars.com reported that children and adults living with disabilities would get to experience a dream cruise of their own thanks to the nonprofit's convertible rides. By 2023, D-MAN had set a goal of providing 100 Dream Rides for cruisers with disabilities that year, according to The Oakland Press.
More recently, the paper reported the nonprofit was seeking community help for its annual Dreams Come True on Woodward event in August 2025. D-MAN's own Dream Cruise page states that more than 75 clients experienced the ride that year. On LinkedIn, the organization has described itself as providing helicopter ride experiences as well, extending its programming beyond Woodward Avenue and into the sky above Metro Detroit.
What the Flight Meant for One Westland Family
For Shaw and her mother, the helicopter ride represents another chapter in a story that began with a bleak medical outlook and has instead stretched into a life full of milestones nobody guaranteed. The organization's helicopter program, run multiple times a year according to its own materials, gave a teenager who was once not expected to reach adulthood a view of her hometown from above.
