Airline Security on easyJet Almost Destroys a Scientific Breakthrough

We all know that airline security can be frustrating and annoying, but a story from NPR shows how the security for easyJet almost cost a young mother her life and destroyed years of work by scientists

When Claudia Castillo, 30, needed a trachea transplant as a result of contracting tuberculosis, she decided to try a radical new procedure that had never been done before. Tracheas are the 4- to 6-inch tube in the throat that allows air to flow into the lungs from the larynx, and they, like most other body parts used for transplants, are often taken from deceased donors. A story from the NPR website reports that instead of simply transfering the body part from the donor into Claudia, doctors first cleaned it of all surface cells. The doctors had previously taken the stem cells from her bone marrow and turned them into tracheal cells. Just before Claudia's surgery, the doctors submurged the trachea into a bunch of claudia's now-tracheal stem cells.

After difficult, careful, groundbreaking work, the medical staff booked a direct flight from Bristol, England -- where the cell growth and trachea dipping had taken place -- to Barcelona, where Claudia was waiting. That flight was the only direct flight that the airline, called easyJet, had on that day. Although Martin Birchall from Bristol University claimed to have had "several conversations" with the airline to make sure everything would go smoothly, airport security would not let the trachea on the plane. The body part had to be in Claudia's body within 16 hours.

Then, the medical student who was going to take the organ to Barcelona, Philipp Jungerbluth, told Birchall that he had a friend in Germany who was a pilot and that this friend could immediately fly to Bristol, take the container and fly it straight to Spain. It cost the university professor approximately $21,000, and the University repaid him

Philipp borded his friend's plane and took the trachea to Barcelona, but later said that the commercial airline "wouldn't even refund the 70 pounds for the original ticket."

In the end, though, the story is a happy one. The trachea made it to Barcelona, and into Claudia Castillo. She was discharged from the hospital ten days after her operation, and her lung function is now back to normal for a person her age. More importantly, her body does not seem to be rejecting the transplant, even without the use of immunosuppressant drugs.