Flying in an airplane is probably the most used form of travel to opt for if you want to go to a long distance destination across the country or to a different one. However, flying can be sometimes very stressful to anyone who has a super tight schedule.
The Faris family, for example, had encountered a life and death situation in the Winter of 2016. Nick and Jesse Faris live in Memphis and they needed to get their two-year-old daughter Brooklyn urgently to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago by the next morning for a liver transplant.
Unluckily, a winter storm was passing through the Midwest at the time, many roads were blocked and flights were cancelled without any news of re-opening before the next morning.
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The situation was unfair and hard to find a way to solve it. However, Nick and Jesse were determined to do everything to get their daughter at time to the hospital.
Brooklyn had been born in China with Alagille syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects the health of your liver. In China Brooklyn’s chances were low of receiving a liver transplant in time to save her life.
When Nick and Jesse heard about her condition, they adopted her and brought her home to Memphis where there is a chance for her getting the right medical attention she needs.
They worked hard to find a way to travel to Chicago. Driving by car during storm is possible but it would take too long and they won’t make it at time, traveling by train could give them one hour time before surgery but it’s not enough for all of the pre-surgery procedures. Donors came through and offered their private jets and $10,000 to charter a plane, but even all of those options could be affected by changes in the weather.
Thanks to a close family friend who made some calls, they found out that FedEx can sometimes fly patients in in extreme emergencies. Because they are not a passenger carrier, FedEx has the ability to make their own decisions regarding inclement weather.
When FedEx was informed about their situation, they immediately agreed to fly the family out right away. Within only 30 minutes Nick, Jesse, Brooklyn, and her older sister Rhet, who was adopted from Ethiopia, were already boarding a FedEx plane to Chicago.
FaithIt
“I do remember looking at Nick, and we were just shaking our heads because it was just completely surreal, the entire afternoon and evening events,” Jesse told US Weekly.
Brooklyn was in surgery the next morning at 10am as it was scheduled. After a successful ten hour surgery, she was reunited with her parents once again. She had to stay a month in the hospital for monitoring, she was heal, the doctors declared that she was healthy enough to return home!
Children’s Organ Transplant Association for Brooklyn Faris
FedEx arranged a special flight home for the family again and they were greeted back in Memphis with a crowd of excited people cheering on little Brooklyn.
“I feel like in addition to just feeling like the hand of God was with us in this situation, we also felt a tremendous amount of support from our community,” Jesse told US Weekly. “The way the story has resonated with people and inspired people – we’ve just been really overwhelmed with the way people have cared about Brooklyn and about our family.”
Jesse Faris
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