The family of 2-year-old Brooklyn Faris, born with Alagille syndrome, had long waited for a liver to save her life but when one was already available, it was 500 miles away.
Parents Nicholas and Jessie, Brooklyn’s adoptive parents, made arrangements to take a flight from Memphis, Tennessee to Chicago where the liver was, but a blizzard has cancelled all commercial flights in or out of their destination.
Upon learning that this was the case, the determined parents did not easily give up.
“When they said there was a blizzard, I think I just thought, it doesn’t matter what it takes, we are going to get there, who knows when this opportunity will come again,” Mommy Jessie said. “We will get there, someone’s got to help us.”
They prayed hard for a miracle. Luckily, someone from their community thought of calling FedEx. Upon learning about the urgency of the situation, the company made arrangements throughout their network to ensure that baby Brooklyn and her parents will reach Chicago in time for the surgery at Luri Children’s Hospital.
Photo credit: Mirror UK – Vimeo/City Leadership
Daddy Nicholas received a call, telling them to go to the airport in 30 minutes. He revealed, “We did and there was a corporate jet waiting for us, that was fuelled up and ready to go.”
Without further questions asked, FedEx delivers them to Chicago – and in time for the scheduled surgery!
The surgery was successful. The chief of transplant surgery, Riccardo Superina, was positive that the child will make an excellent recovery.
“I would think at this point really excellent,” he said. “Usually the first 24 hours are the most critical, and in her case it’s gone well.”
Everyone is praising FedEx for their hand in ensuring that Brooklyn’s surgery was made possible.
“When we learned of the extraordinary circumstances and extreme urgency of the situation with Brooklyn, we knew we had to do something,” FedEx senior vice president of integrated marketing and communications Patrick Fitzgerald said. “Thankfully, we had the network and resources available to make it happen for this family in our hometown of Memphis.”
He also added, “The entire FedEx family is pulling for a quick and full recovery for Brooklyn.”
Organ Transplant
An organ transplant is done for patients whose own organs are missing or damaged due to congenital defects, illness, accident, or some other reason.
Organs for the transplant can come from live or cadaveric sources, with the latter possible only for certain organs – and it comes with certain limitations such as a shorter window of time between “harvesting” the organs and transplanting them to the recipient/s.
The most common organs for transplant are the kidneys, liver, and heart but there have also been cases of full-face transplant or other unusual medical procedures.
Featured image credit: FedEx