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CNN Live Today

A Century of Flight

Aired December 17, 2003 - 11:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So we've been talking about the anniversary, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight in North Carolina. A recreation of that plane is going to fly today, or that's the plan, but there's other planes flying, including the one you're seeing on your screen right now. An unusual paint job, to say the least. What is behind that? We can tell you it's a DC-3. It has been actually hand painted by sick children at hospitals across the nation, and the result is this colorful aircraft. It looks something kind of like it came out of an "Austin Powers" movie.
Well, Ed Massey came up with the idea. His organization is called Portraits of Hope, and he is joining us from the site of the Wright Brothers celebration today in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

Ed Massey, good morning.

ED MASSEY, FOUNDER, PORTRAITS OF HOPE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: You got to tell us about this project. You actually have been traveling across the country for the last year or two, meeting with children as they're trying to recover in hospitals.

MASSEY: Exactly. We've been traveling from New York to California, working with, unfortunately, every childhood disease imaginable. We bring in a little bit of sunshine to all those children. These are kids fighting, as you can imagine, childhood blood disorders -- spinabifida, they're going through orthopedic surgery and burnt trauma recovery. But they're actively getting engaged in something that's never been done before. So not only was history made a hundred years ago, but today history is being made again by the first flight actually done by the love and complete, complete active engagement by children in very, very difficult situations.

KAGAN: Now, I don't think you can see there, but our viewers at home are able to see actual photographs of the kids in their hospital rooms doing the painting. Explain to us the process of how it goes from what the kids did in the hospitals to actually being on the airplane.

MASSEY: We work with in-patients and outpatients. We would go into dialysis units, ICU units. We work with some of the most severe cases of children in pediatric care units, those children would can't get out on a day-to-day basis. So what we do is, we bring in large panels, sometimes of unprecedented size for these children. Some of those flowers that are on that aircraft that DC-3, are up to 14 feet petal to petal. So we come in. we have special brushes for all the children to be able to use. We designed a shoe brush, which I have right here. This was designed specifically for our program, so a child that may have an injured upper limb can get into the shoe brush and do like a shoe dance, and it's really a fun and engaging activity for all those children.

KAGAN: So they painted, and then you had those painted canvases applied to this DC-3?

MASSEY: Exactly. The DC-3 was in North Carolina. It was about a 10-day application. The children painted a large panels. Then they were hand applied with numerous, numerous people, to make it look as beautiful as it does.

And, again, just to show you some of the difficulty of some of the kids that are painting, we also have what we call our mouthpiece paintbrush, where we put strawberry, or pineapple or apple flavored, so any child, again, children who may not have mobility below the neck, can all be active participants. So this is for them, perhaps the first time in their lives, that they've been actually engaged in a historical event, and something the whole world can point to with pride and say, hey, those children did that. For those kids at bedside today, seeing that for the first time on TV, they can have a big smile. The sun may not be shining behind me, but it's shining from corner to corner today in those hospitals.

KAGAN: I bet it absolutely is. We've been talking all morning, Mother Nature not exactly cooperating. They're going to try this today at 2:00 p.m. And in addition to the recreation of the plane, the Wright Brothers plane, there will be other planes flying, and that includes this DC-3.

MASSEY: That's correct. We're very excited to see it fly up above, and again, a lot of sunshine on that plane today.

KAGAN: And so what happens to the plane and the portraits after today, Ed?

MASSEY: That plane is going to be actually -- they're going to strip all the paint. This was painted specifically for the first flight centennial celebration. It's going to be not seen after this afternoon. So we're hoping that everyone gets the last opportunity to see it today. And if anyone doesn't get a chance to see it, they can always look at us at portraitsofhope.org and learn more about our program.

KAGAN: Absolutely -- portraitsofhope.org, and I'm sure there will be something up your sleeve after today.

Good luck with all that. And thanks for sharing. I'm sure it will catch a lot of eyeballs, and people knowing what that plane is all about. And now we know about the kids who made it happen today.

MASSEY: Thank you so much, Daryn. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 17, 2003 - 11:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So we've been talking about the anniversary, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight in North Carolina. A recreation of that plane is going to fly today, or that's the plan, but there's other planes flying, including the one you're seeing on your screen right now. An unusual paint job, to say the least. What is behind that? We can tell you it's a DC-3. It has been actually hand painted by sick children at hospitals across the nation, and the result is this colorful aircraft. It looks something kind of like it came out of an "Austin Powers" movie.
Well, Ed Massey came up with the idea. His organization is called Portraits of Hope, and he is joining us from the site of the Wright Brothers celebration today in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

Ed Massey, good morning.

ED MASSEY, FOUNDER, PORTRAITS OF HOPE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: You got to tell us about this project. You actually have been traveling across the country for the last year or two, meeting with children as they're trying to recover in hospitals.

MASSEY: Exactly. We've been traveling from New York to California, working with, unfortunately, every childhood disease imaginable. We bring in a little bit of sunshine to all those children. These are kids fighting, as you can imagine, childhood blood disorders -- spinabifida, they're going through orthopedic surgery and burnt trauma recovery. But they're actively getting engaged in something that's never been done before. So not only was history made a hundred years ago, but today history is being made again by the first flight actually done by the love and complete, complete active engagement by children in very, very difficult situations.

KAGAN: Now, I don't think you can see there, but our viewers at home are able to see actual photographs of the kids in their hospital rooms doing the painting. Explain to us the process of how it goes from what the kids did in the hospitals to actually being on the airplane.

MASSEY: We work with in-patients and outpatients. We would go into dialysis units, ICU units. We work with some of the most severe cases of children in pediatric care units, those children would can't get out on a day-to-day basis. So what we do is, we bring in large panels, sometimes of unprecedented size for these children. Some of those flowers that are on that aircraft that DC-3, are up to 14 feet petal to petal. So we come in. we have special brushes for all the children to be able to use. We designed a shoe brush, which I have right here. This was designed specifically for our program, so a child that may have an injured upper limb can get into the shoe brush and do like a shoe dance, and it's really a fun and engaging activity for all those children.

KAGAN: So they painted, and then you had those painted canvases applied to this DC-3?

MASSEY: Exactly. The DC-3 was in North Carolina. It was about a 10-day application. The children painted a large panels. Then they were hand applied with numerous, numerous people, to make it look as beautiful as it does.

And, again, just to show you some of the difficulty of some of the kids that are painting, we also have what we call our mouthpiece paintbrush, where we put strawberry, or pineapple or apple flavored, so any child, again, children who may not have mobility below the neck, can all be active participants. So this is for them, perhaps the first time in their lives, that they've been actually engaged in a historical event, and something the whole world can point to with pride and say, hey, those children did that. For those kids at bedside today, seeing that for the first time on TV, they can have a big smile. The sun may not be shining behind me, but it's shining from corner to corner today in those hospitals.

KAGAN: I bet it absolutely is. We've been talking all morning, Mother Nature not exactly cooperating. They're going to try this today at 2:00 p.m. And in addition to the recreation of the plane, the Wright Brothers plane, there will be other planes flying, and that includes this DC-3.

MASSEY: That's correct. We're very excited to see it fly up above, and again, a lot of sunshine on that plane today.

KAGAN: And so what happens to the plane and the portraits after today, Ed?

MASSEY: That plane is going to be actually -- they're going to strip all the paint. This was painted specifically for the first flight centennial celebration. It's going to be not seen after this afternoon. So we're hoping that everyone gets the last opportunity to see it today. And if anyone doesn't get a chance to see it, they can always look at us at portraitsofhope.org and learn more about our program.

KAGAN: Absolutely -- portraitsofhope.org, and I'm sure there will be something up your sleeve after today.

Good luck with all that. And thanks for sharing. I'm sure it will catch a lot of eyeballs, and people knowing what that plane is all about. And now we know about the kids who made it happen today.

MASSEY: Thank you so much, Daryn. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com