What does a 33,000 lb B-17 Bomber and nine young adults living with Down syndrome have in common? Up until yesterday, October 10th, nothing...

As well all know, COVID-19 has caused many parents a great deal of frustration as they’ve had to adjust and accommodate their living situations to best support their children during this time. Schools have gone virtual, events that keep us looking forward have been canceled, and our social interactions are now kept at a distance and to a minimum. The unknown duration of this pandemic has left many people wondering how this will affect our younger generation growing up in this new way of life, especially our community of those living with developmental disabilities. Living with special needs requires a little more time, a little more attention, and a lot more social interaction that has left these families without many opportunities for their young ones.

Knowing these circumstances, we wanted to do something special for those living with Down syndrome whom we’ve met so far during the production of our film “Chromosomally Enhanced: What’s your Superpower?”

Yesterday, we had nine of our superheroes come out to Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti to pull a plane, and not just any plane, a B-17 Yankee Lady bomber from the Yankee Air Museum. With the help of two retired Detroit Lions, Eric Hipple and Lomas Brown, a US Army tank, the Ypsilanti Fire Department, Wayne County Police, White Lake Township Police, Novi Police, the Willow Run ARFF, and a K-9 unit from Livingston County.

While the idea early on was met with a tremendous amount of skepticism and concern, as envisioned by our team at Visionalist Entertainment Productions, it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered during our time of the COVID pandemic we are living in.

Kameron, Maritsa, Michael B., Robby, Grant, Michael R., Kyle, Kevin, and Sean, as with the way they view life, saw the opportunity as simple a team effort, as one of the kids, Robby Heil, said, “yeah we got this”

Eric and Lomas were not only important to the rope pull, but added an inspirational enthusiastic voice to the work of the Special Olympics. While adhering to the COVID protocol, the closed set production would not go without a couple hiccups with the rope coming loose twice and the line of pullers hitting the ground. They say, “third time's the charm,” and it was, as the families looked on and the plane rolled forward, their loved ones broke out in cheer. The event would come to a close as all participants including Eric and Lomas danced as a group to Aretha Franklin’s hit song, ‘Respect.’

We cannot thank everyone enough for your tremendous amount of support and patience as we worked to make this happen.

Thank you to Willow Run Airport and the Yankee Air Museum for hosting this event and all of their volunteers who helped make sure everything ran smoothly. A special thank you to Eric Hipple and Lomas Brown for coming out and rallying up our superheroes. Thank you, Andrea Rachko, the Law Enforcement Torch Run and Senior Development Director, for coming out and supporting this event. Thank you to John Kulhavi for his immense amount of support and letting us borrow his US Army tank for the day. Thank you to all of the compassionate first responders that volunteered to be a part of this and helping our superheroes pull the plane. Thank you, Kristy Schena, the founder of Kids On The Go for making it out and showing us support for this event. Thank you to Firehouse Subs for providing lunch to our crew and first responders. Thank you to all of the much needed extra hands that volunteered to help out our production crew. Thank you to all of the families that brought their superheros and supported this event. And of course, a huge thank you to our nine remarkable superheroes: Kameron Graham, Maritsa Skowronek, Michael Banaszewski, Robby Heil, Grant Hattermann, Michael Renkiewicz, Kyle Siarto, Kevin Welgosh, and Sean Bowers for their unbelievable amount of perseverance and determination. We couldn’t have done it without any of you.

We hope events like this will continue to be made possible while we work together through tough times.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience and tremendous amount of support throughout this event and making this possible.