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Human Interest·By Nancy Flanders
Healthcare worker who got special clearance to fly on 9/11 meets baby she helped save
On September 11, 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed down national airspace. Only those with permission to fly, including military, police, firefighters, and medical transportation fights were allowed to be in the air.
At Vanderbilt Medical Center in Tennessee that day, one medical worker knew a the life of a baby in Texas depended on whether or not one particular plane was able to fly.
This year, that medical worker and the baby met for the first time.
On September 11, 2001, as planes were grounded amid the largest ever terrorist attack on the U.S., a baby in Texas was awaiting a liver donated by the family of a newborn who had tragically died in Tennessee.
Jill Grandas, the CEO of Tennessee Donor Services, called Houston's air traffic control, and the Tennessee Air National Guard was given permission to fly the organ to its recipient.
Baby Kareena is now 25 years old, and she and Grandas met for the first time in person this week, ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Late in the night of September 10, 2001, a newborn baby tragically died in Nashville. The baby's heartbroken family decided to donate his organs to help other children. For unstated reasons, only the baby's liver could be donated.
In Houston, Texas, 780 miles away, a six-month-old baby girl was dying from liver failure.
The next morning, Jill Grandas was driving her children to school on her way to work when she heard about the attacks.
Grandas, a registered nurse and the CEO of Tennessee Donor Services, learned that the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all planes in flight to land and no new planes to take off. But she also knew that a surgical team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was preparing the baby's liver for transport to Houston.
They would need an airplane to get it there.
“It galvanized our resolve,” a member of the Vanderbilt transplant team said at the time. “We can’t let them win. If we don’t get (the liver) to this person, they’ll have killed someone else.”
The Tennessee Donor Services was the bridge between transplant centers, and Grandas' job was to make sure that liver got to that little girl. So, she opened the phone book and found the number for the air traffic control tower at Nashville International Airport.
As Wayne Wood reported for Vanderbilt Health News:
She took a deep breath before making the call, expecting to be told ‘no’ and expecting to have to fight and argue to get anything to happen.
What she actually found was that everyone immediately wanted to do anything possible to help.
The Tennessee Air National Guard was given permission to fly, and with an emergency crew, a C-130 cargo plane carried the 10-ounce liver to Houston, where a then-six-month-old baby girl, Kareena, was awaiting it.
"At a time when the situation was so terrifying and uncertain that national leaders were in hidden bunkers, members of the Tennessee Air National Guard risked taking to the air to get that liver to the little girl who needed it," wrote Wood. "The transplant teams at Vanderbilt and in Houston focused on their task, blocking out as best they could the terrible news unfolding around the country. The professionals at Tennessee Donor Services and the FAA worked out how to save a life in the midst of tragedy. And, before all that, a family in the midst of grief made the decision to donate the organ that saved Kareena’s life."
Kareena is now grown up and attending law school, and though she and Grandas first spoke several years ago and are in contact, they had never met in person until now.
“She calls me every September 11 and has for the past five or six years,” Grandas said. But this week, on September 3, Grandas traveled to Texas to meet Kareena in person.
"We sat outside and talked for a while," she said. "It was a delight. It felt really natural."
She added, "We just have a connection."
Grandas told PEOPLE, “The events on that day will always be with me. Kareena is part of my 9/11 story. Now, meeting her 25 years later, it is extraordinarily moving to see what a bright and beautiful person she is. We talked all about her health, which is wonderful, her goals in life. She handles everything with such grace.”
Grandas told PEOPLE magazine, "It was my only joy in a day that devastated our world. Because of those dedicated teams at Vanderbilt and Tennessee Donor Services who did not stop their work, because of the bravery of the Tennessee National Guardsmen who risked their lives to take to the skies, Kareena’s life was saved that day in Houston.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
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Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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Healthcare worker who got special clearance to fly on 9/11 meets baby she helped save
On September 11, 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed down national airspace. Only those with permission to fly, including military, police, firefighters, and medical transportation fights were allowed to be in the air.
At Vanderbilt Medical Center in Tennessee that day, one medical worker knew a the life of a baby in Texas depended on whether or not one particular plane was able to fly.
This year, that medical worker and the baby met for the first time.
On September 11, 2001, as planes were grounded amid the largest ever terrorist attack on the U.S., a baby in Texas was awaiting a liver donated by the family of a newborn who had tragically died in Tennessee.
Jill Grandas, the CEO of Tennessee Donor Services, called Houston's air traffic control, and the Tennessee Air National Guard was given permission to fly the organ to its recipient.
Baby Kareena is now 25 years old, and she and Grandas met for the first time in person this week, ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Late in the night of September 10, 2001, a newborn baby tragically died in Nashville. The baby's heartbroken family decided to donate his organs to help other children. For unstated reasons, only the baby's liver could be donated.
In Houston, Texas, 780 miles away, a six-month-old baby girl was dying from liver failure.
The next morning, Jill Grandas was driving her children to school on her way to work when she heard about the attacks.
Grandas, a registered nurse and the CEO of Tennessee Donor Services, learned that the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all planes in flight to land and no new planes to take off. But she also knew that a surgical team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was preparing the baby's liver for transport to Houston.
They would need an airplane to get it there.
“It galvanized our resolve,” a member of the Vanderbilt transplant team said at the time. “We can’t let them win. If we don’t get (the liver) to this person, they’ll have killed someone else.”
The Tennessee Donor Services was the bridge between transplant centers, and Grandas' job was to make sure that liver got to that little girl. So, she opened the phone book and found the number for the air traffic control tower at Nashville International Airport.
As Wayne Wood reported for Vanderbilt Health News:
She took a deep breath before making the call, expecting to be told ‘no’ and expecting to have to fight and argue to get anything to happen.
What she actually found was that everyone immediately wanted to do anything possible to help.
The Tennessee Air National Guard was given permission to fly, and with an emergency crew, a C-130 cargo plane carried the 10-ounce liver to Houston, where a then-six-month-old baby girl, Kareena, was awaiting it.
"At a time when the situation was so terrifying and uncertain that national leaders were in hidden bunkers, members of the Tennessee Air National Guard risked taking to the air to get that liver to the little girl who needed it," wrote Wood. "The transplant teams at Vanderbilt and in Houston focused on their task, blocking out as best they could the terrible news unfolding around the country. The professionals at Tennessee Donor Services and the FAA worked out how to save a life in the midst of tragedy. And, before all that, a family in the midst of grief made the decision to donate the organ that saved Kareena’s life."
Kareena is now grown up and attending law school, and though she and Grandas first spoke several years ago and are in contact, they had never met in person until now.
“She calls me every September 11 and has for the past five or six years,” Grandas said. But this week, on September 3, Grandas traveled to Texas to meet Kareena in person.
"We sat outside and talked for a while," she said. "It was a delight. It felt really natural."
She added, "We just have a connection."
Grandas told PEOPLE, “The events on that day will always be with me. Kareena is part of my 9/11 story. Now, meeting her 25 years later, it is extraordinarily moving to see what a bright and beautiful person she is. We talked all about her health, which is wonderful, her goals in life. She handles everything with such grace.”
Grandas told PEOPLE magazine, "It was my only joy in a day that devastated our world. Because of those dedicated teams at Vanderbilt and Tennessee Donor Services who did not stop their work, because of the bravery of the Tennessee National Guardsmen who risked their lives to take to the skies, Kareena’s life was saved that day in Houston.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Nancy Flanders
·Human Interest
Nancy Flanders
·Human Interest
Angeline Tan
·Human Interest
Nancy Flanders
·Guest Column
Kelli Stelter
·Human Interest
Angeline Tan
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Nancy Flanders
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Nancy Flanders
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