by All too often we hear stories in the news about bad things airlines have done; but in this case, a very special airline employee went above and beyond, and her actions had one passenger crying tears of joy and gratitude.
Stacy Hurt was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer on her 44th birthday and her life quickly became full of doctor appointments and chemotherapy treatments. When she goes in for treatment, Stacy likes to have a few things with her for good luck, like her rosary and a special t-shirt.
Recently, the Pittsburgh resident was in Nashville and had to change her Southwest flight home to an earlier one so she could make it to her chemotherapy appointment the next day.
However, while Stacy made it on the new flight, her luggage did not. It was supposed to come on a later flight, but that one got canceled.
That’s when Stacy began to panic. The bag contained some important medications, along with her rosary and special shirt.
Stacy hurriedly called the Southwest Airline customer service line at the Pittsburgh International Airport where customer service agent Sarah Rowan answered the phone.
Sarah could sense Stacy’s panic and worry and, after hearing her story, her heart went out to Stacy and she knew she had to do everything she could to help.
Sarah told Stacy that she would continue to track the luggage and would keep her posted, no matter what hour the suitcase finally arrived. She knew that if Stacy’s bag didn’t come before 1:30 a.m., the last courier would already be gone and the bag wouldn’t get to Stacy before her 9 a.m. chemo appointment.
Stacy knew there was a good chance her bag wouldn’t make it, but she tried to get some sleep and not worry. But the next morning when she opened up her front door, there was her suitcase sitting on her porch waiting for her!
When Stacy opened the bag up, she found a note inside written on tissue paper that left her in tears.
“Sorry for the delay getting your bag to you!” the note read. “Myself + my Southwest family are thinking of you + wishing all the best. Kick that cancer’s BUTT! With LUV, Sarah from PIT”
It turned out that the bag had arrived in Pittsburgh around 2 a.m., right about when Sarah was finishing her shift.
“I looked up her address to see how far away she lived and she lived about 20 minutes away,” Sarah said. “So in my head, me getting home a little bit later was less important than her getting the bag she needed for her chemotherapy treatment.”
Stacy was speechless.
“She just epitomizes everything good,” she said of Sarah. “When you have cancer and you have chemo, this is the toughest thing ever.”
Stacy continued, “For her to pick up on what a difficult situation this is and put my mind at ease and make me feel comfortable and to go through what she went through to get my luggage to me, she is an amazing person.”
While the two had only been communicating via Facebook and phone calls up to that point, Stacy was soon able to make her way back to the Pittsburgh airport to thank Sarah in person. Both of them had tears in their eyes as they hugged. We know this is something neither one of them will ever forget!
