After Appendicitis Cuts Vacation Short,
Flyers Fan Give Wachovia Center Family Tour

A Flyers' fan's family was given a tour of the Wavocvia Center. Back on July 28th, 2003 their experience wasn't as nearly enjoyable. A Coast Guard team more accustomed to performing pleasure-boat rescues airlifted their 11-year-old son with appendicitis off a cruise ship. The boy, Patrick Hogan, was aboard the Cruise Ship Horizon about 140 miles off the coast of Atlantic City when he was stricken with severe abdominal pain. The ship's physician decided that Patrick needed more advanced care than could be provided at sea. Before dawn, the Coast Guard launched a C-130 rescue plane from Elizabeth City, N.C., to provide backup for the HH-65 rescue helicopter and crew dispatched from Group Air Station in Atlantic City. The Coast Guard airlifted the boy and his father, John, from the ship, and an ambulance took them to the Atlantic City Trauma Center. The boy underwent an appendectomy, said Coast Guard spokesman Bill Barry.