Times of India·3 min read·medium

Baby needed liver as flights were grounded; strangers moved it 800 miles

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Baby needed liver as flights were grounded; strangers moved it 800 miles
AI Summary

During the September 11, 2001 attacks, a six-month-old baby in Houston required an urgent liver transplant. With civilian flights grounded, the Tennessee Air National Guard transported the organ via a C-130 cargo plane to ensure the life-saving surgery could proceed.

Why it matters

This story highlights a rare humanitarian success story amidst the chaos of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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On September 11, 2001, while the US was dealing with the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a six-month-old baby in Houston was fighting for her life. Kareena needed a liver transplant, but the donor organ was nearly 800 miles away in Nashville, and the civilian flights across the US had been grounded.The liver, packed in ice inside a box roughly two feet by one foot, eventually reached Houston aboard a C-130 cargo plane, Houston Chronicle reported. The aircraft, operated by the Tennessee Air National Guard, carried the organ from Nashville to Ellington Field. From there, soldiers took it to Texas Children’s Hospital, where doctors were waiting to perform the transplant.Kareena had been born with biliary atresia, a congenital defect in which the ducts that drain bile from the liver do not form.

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