September 11, 2001 is known for four flights, in particular, the two planes that were flown into the World Trade Center, the one that was aimed at the Pentagon, and the one that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Air travel was halted until further notice—with the exception of extreme cases.
One of these exceptions was for Kareena, a six-month-old in Houston who was dying of liver failure. Without a liver, her doctors predicted she would be dead within 48 hours. On the same night that the doctors told Kareena’s parents about her prognosis, the night of September 10, 2001, an infant passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, eight-hundred miles away from Kareena. The parents of the infant decided to donate her organs, and Kareena’s parents were given renewed hope for a donor match for their daughter.
Hours later, news of the terrorist attacks spread in the hospital. With every flight in the entire country grounded, it looked like Kareena wouldn’t receive the liver so she greatly needed. Dr. Ravi Chari, the surgeon who was in charge of removing the liver in Nashville, decided that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He had Donor Services get in contact with the Nashville Airport traffic control, to no avail. They were under strict FAA orders not to fly. Then, a woman from the Nashville Tower made a last-ditch effort to get the liver to Kareena. She had her team call the National Guard.
The liver was loaded onto a C-130 with an armed escort, and the Air Guard was, after much back and forth, granted permission to take flight. It was one of the only planes in the sky during the two-hour flight to Houston. Six hours after flight takeoff, Kareena was in the intensive care unit, recovering from the transplant. Dr. Chari said he didn’t give up because letting the flight ban prevent them from delivering the liver would have been like letting the terrorists kill someone else.