'She can fly': 86-year-old in wheelchair has dream come true at Balloon Fiesta

As a breeze blew a chill across Balloon Fiesta Park on a Friday morning in early October, 86-year-old Peggy Roach sat in her wheelchair, surrounded by family.

Behind her, the crew of Coddiwomple was working to assemble the hot air balloon in the predawn darkness.

The sun began to peek over the Sandia Mountains and revealed the massive outline of the balloon. Roach and her family watched in astonishment as it came to life. A loud, buzzing fan blew air into the envelope, inflating it enough for pilot Mike Heffron to walk inside of it to do his preflight inspection.

'She can fly': 86-year-old in wheelchair has dream come true at Balloon Fiesta

After completing his walk-around, he proceeded to blast flames into the balloon from its burner. Standing nearby, Roach’s family recorded the spectacle on their cellphones.

Roach watched the flames in amazement as her face lit up intermittently with the orange hue of the flames. Finally, the balloon was ready to load its passengers. Roach was wheeled into the balloon’s basket by her son Clark Roach and strapped in. Her other son, Jay Roach, and her daughter, Kim McElwee, also climbed aboard.

Sitting next to her children, Peggy Roach smiled and waved to other family members on the ground. As the balloon lifted at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, She realized her dream of riding in a hot air balloon was finally coming true after more than 50 years of anticipation.

Born in Claude, Texas, Peggy Roach moved to Albuquerque in 1957, after her husband, Mathew Roach, got a job at Sandia National Laboratories. She fell in love with the Balloon Fiesta and attended her first one in 1972, the inaugural Balloon Fiesta, with her family.

“I watched (the hot air balloons) blow up and fly away,” she said of her first experience at Balloon Fiesta. “I thought to myself, ‘I wanna do that.’”

As the years passed, the opportunity never seemed to come, even though her children worked on volunteer flight crews during the early years of the fiesta.

She and her husband left Albuquerque in 2019. The couple moved into an assisted living community in southern Colorado.

Peggy Roach watched coverage of the fiesta on TV and never let go of her dream to one day fly in a hot air balloon. However, that dream seemed less likely to come to fruition as medical struggles with rheumatoid arthritis and subsequent treatments with prednisone and other steroids badly damaged her adrenal glands.

She has been wheelchair-bound since 2015 due to complications with her lower back. Despite her medical issues, she has never let it slow her down or dampen her spirits.

Her son Clark knew a balloon ride was still something his mother wanted to do, so he began to research hot air balloons that could accommodate someone in a wheelchair. His search led him to Heffron and Coddiwomple Ballooning.

“I squeezed the trigger and organized a flight and it wasn’t during the Balloon Fiesta, and that was a big mistake,” Clark said with a laugh.

His mother did not want to fly in a balloon unless it was during the Balloon Fiesta. Clark was able to work with Heffron and reschedule the flight during Balloon Fiesta.

Another condition for Peggy Roach was that her children had to ride with her. The only one missing was her son Rick, who was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

On Oct. 11, the family flew over Downtown, scratching the tips of the city’s skyscrapers before dipping into the Rio Grande and brushing up against the bosque trees. After an hour and a half in the air, Coddiwomple touched back down.

The experience was better than Peggy Roach could have asked for.

“It was fabulous,” she said.

McElwee said the ride was more emotional than she thought it would be.

“(My mother) has been a survivor from so many medical things in her life, on life support at one point,” she said. “I think that’s why this was something special.”

Jay Roach also reflected on his mother’s journey.

“Seeing our mom, a person who’s in a wheelchair, fly ... it was amazing,” he said. “She can’t walk, but she can fly.”