Don’t credit repair of Claudia Castillo’s windpipe to easyJet airlines. They nearly stopped the miracle surgery from happening.
Just too much of a “security risk”
According to this story in the London Daily Telegraph, doctors from the Bristol, England lab where the 60 million stem cells had been grown were prepared to fly the cells to Ms. Castillo in Barcelona. However, easyJet staff allegedly refused to allow the package on board, claiming it contained more than 100ml of fluid that “posed a security risk.”
A security risk? We’re talking about saving a life
The cells, which took five months to grow, had to arrive in Barcelona within 16 hours before becoming unusable.
Professor Martin Birchall of Bristol University says he begged airline staff to make an exception and repair credit fast with them, Claudia Castillo and the rest of the caring world.
easyJet refused his request
According to Birchall:
They said it couldn’t go on because it would be a security risk – but I had been talking to people on a regular basis. I was so furious, trying to explain months of work. The clock was ticking. We’d taken the cells out of their culture media an hour before. We thought about driving to Barcelona, but that would have taken too long.
Luckily, one Mr. Philip Jungerbluth, a medical student who was to accompany the cells on their flight, saved the day. Birchall again:
Philip said he had a friend from medical school who used to fly and within a couple of phone calls he got him to leave Germany and be with us and he said he would charge us cost only.
14,000 pounds saved Claudia Castillo’s life
The professor paid to charter a jet out of his own pocket, though the cost was later reimbursed by Bristol University. Apparently the sanctity of human life trumps policy.
Here is the life that was saved. Here is Claudia Castillo:
What did easyJet have to say for themselves after this public relations debacle?
According to a spokesman:
We do not have any record of the passenger’s request to carry medical materials on board the flight.
easyJet did refund the cost of the flight, but they lost so much more. Don’t credit repair of an ailing woman’s health to easyJet, world. Credit Martin Birchall and Philip Jungerbluth for caring about human life.
Let me just wipe away a tear…. What I don’t understand is, if Professor Martin Birchall specializes in the research and care for others, why he didn’t have any special terms or conditions for transporting something like that. I bet if the owner(s) of that airline were to come down with a life threatening disease their “security risk” regulations would definitely be changed.