Just a few months after a Delta Air Lines flight attendant battling Stage 5 kidney disease received a healthy kidney from a complete stranger, an Alaska Airlines pilot is set to donate her kidney to a co-worker facing kidney failure brought on by a lengthy battle with Lupus.
KING 5 News reported Alaska Airlines flight attendant Jenny Stansel has been on medical leave for about a year since her last flight in which she fell so ill that she had to take a passenger's seat before being hospitalized.
After Stansel reached out to friends and co-workers about her situation, Captain Jody Harskamp agreed to take a test and was eventually determined to be a match.
"She sent out the word, and when I filled out the paperwork I think the title of the fax I sent in was 'Girl, I got your kidney,' and then I was joking with her that I was going to deliver the kidney on the beverage cart on an ice bucket," Harskamp, who has flown with Stansel on several occasions, told KING 5.
The surgery is scheduled for Monday at Seattle's Swedish Organ Transplant Center.
Harskamp is planning to return to the flight deck after her recovery and has already reached out to fellow pilots who have returned to fly after donating organs.
"If it means Jenny is going to get another 20, 30, 40, 50 years out of my kidney, and I'm going to live just as long as I was going to live before, why not?" added Harskamp.
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Stansel told KING 5 that Harskamp's sacrifice "means the world" to her and said she's "extremely grateful."
It's unclear how long it'll be before both Harskamp and Stansel will be able to return to the sky, but when they do their bond will undoubtedly be stronger than ever.
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