How would you show gratitude to someone who saved your life?

One young man flew thousands of miles on Tuesday in a small plane to give thanks in person.

Twenty-two year-old Calvin Page of West Palm Beach, Florida said if it weren’t for Dr. Mark Allen, he wouldn’t be able to continue pursuing his dream of flying.

Just last year, Calvin Page was treated at Mayo Clinic for infectious pneumonia. During his treatment doctors found a rare birth defect called bronchopulmonary sequestration.

Dr. Allen performed the surgery to remove the abnormal lung tissue.

Since then, Page and two friends set out on a quest to break the Guinness World Record for flying to each of the contiguous 48 states in the shortest amount of time.

"I was here just a year a go under very different circumstances," said Page. "So when we were planning our route and saw that Minnesota and the Rochester area would be an efficient stop, we were really excited to hopefully meet again to thank him for, you know, giving me the opportunity to do something like this."

Dr. Allen said he’s grateful and glad he was able to help.

"We get patients obviously that come back and see us all the time, and they usually don’t fly in – they usually drive in or they send us a letter or an email," said Dr. Allen. "But it’s always very gratifying to see somebody that we operated on that was quite sick, had some rare disease that the Clinic was able to take care of and do a good job of, and get you back to your life again."

Page and his friends also did the trip to raise money for the the Aviation Career Education Academy. The academy teaches middle and high schools students all about aviation.

You can find out more about ACE by clicking here.

Page said they were able to raise $4,000 for ACE, and adds that he did the trip to show kids that "even if you get knocked down, you can still get back up."