Just when we thought people were selfish and cared only about themselves, a Southwest Airlines employee proved us wrong when she went out of her way to find a cancer patient's lost bags with valuable mementos and medications.
Colon-cancer patient Stacy Hurt called Pittsburgh International Airport on July 23 after her luggage failed to make it from Nashville, Tennessee. Inside her bags were medications used to help treat nausea associated with her chemotherapy treatments.
“I immediately panicked because I had chemotherapy the next day, and I knew that I had a lot of items in the suitcase that I needed and wanted for chemotherapy. One of them was medication," Hurt told KDKA-TV. "But many of them were personal items to me. I just started getting very emotional, and I started to cry."
Sarah Rowan, the airline employee who received Hurt's call, felt compelled to help because her own father had died from leukemia six years ago, The Associated Press reported.
“She sort of picked up on my emotion, and she said, ‘We’ll get that luggage to you somehow, some way,'" Hurt told KDKA.
Rowan found the luggage after midnight that night. The last courier had left for the night so she loaded the luggage in her car and drove to Hurt's house. She dropped the suitcase off shortly after 3 a.m., along with a note:
Sorry for the delay getting the bag back to you! Myself + my Southwest family are thinking of you + wishing you all the best. Kick that cancer's BUTT!With luv,
Sarah from PIT
The two women on Wednesday had the opportunity to meet. Hurt brought a bouquet of flowers and the letter Rowan left with the luggage, WTAE-TV reported.
"You are as beautiful as what you did," Hurt told Rowan. "You are as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside."
"You're going to make me cry again," Rowan said.
Hurt told Rowan she's going through 51 rounds of chemo. Rowan's act of kindness helped her power through another round.
Rowan said she was moved to help Hurt find the missing luggage because of how nice she was on the phone.
"You touched me when you called me on the phone," Rowan told Hurt. "In that situation, people can — you know, it's frustrating. You want your stuff. Things go wrong sometimes. You could not have been more kind."
"I'm just here to tell the story," Hurt said. "I was the recipient of a tremendous act of unconditional kindness."
