December 10, 2018
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
An American Airlines plane takes off from the The Philadelphia International Airport.
On a flight from Orlando to Philadelphia last Thursday, a man's random act of kindness spread holiday cheer to a family whose infant daughter was headed to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Kelsey Zwick and her 11-month-old daughter were traveling to Philadelphia to continue treatment for the girl's rare condition. Seventeen weeks into Zwick's pregnancy with twins, she found out one of her daughters, Lucy, had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, according to NBC News.
The placental condition, which affects roughly 1-3 per 10,000 births, required Zwick and her husband to fly to Houston to have the twins delivered at 29 weeks.
Lucy continues to check in with doctors at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She still requires an oxygen machine.
After pre-boarding American Airlines Flight 588, Zwick was approached by a flight attendant who told her she had a seat waiting for her in First-Class. An anonymous passenger noticed the mother and daughter and decided to give up his seat.
Zwick shared her story on Facebook and has since seen the stranger's act of kindness go viral. The post has been shared more than 437,000 times since last Thursday.
"Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle while my daughter Lucy laughed! She felt it in her bones too... real, pure, goodness," wrote Zwick, who said she didn't have a chance to properly thank the man.
"Sooo... thank you," Zwick continued. "Not just for the seat itself but for noticing. For seeing us and realizing that maybe things are not always easy. For deciding you wanted to show a random act of kindness to US. It reminded me how much good there is in this world. I can’t wait to tell Lucy someday. In the meantime... we will pay it forward. AA 588 passenger in seat 2D, we truly feel inspired by your generosity."
Zwick hopes her story will inspire other acts kindness going forward through the holiday season.
