It took five months for researchers at England’s Bristol University to grow the 60 million stem cells needed for the breakthrough windpipe transplant recently performed on a Colombian woman in Barcelona, Spain, in order to replace her tuberculosis-ravaged trachea with a transplanted one.  Once the stem cells left the British laboratory, they had to be used within 16 hours or they’d become unusable.

In spite of months of alleged collaboration with easyJet, a discount airline servicing Europe, airline staff at the local airport would not allow the stem cells on the plane.  The transport team was told the fluid exceeded the 100 milliliters (mls) allowed.  Anything more is a security risk, not allowed on board, according to the airline’s local personnel.

In spite of the repeated efforts to secure special permission to travel with medical materials and precious time spent begging local airline authorities for access to the plane, an infuriated Professor Martin Birchall, was on the verge of scrapping the entire project.

By this time, one full hour had passed since the stem cells were removed from their culture media.  The transport team, if traveling by car, would never make it from England to Spain in time to save the painstakingly grown stem cells.

It was at this time a medical student suggested a plan that saved the entire operation.

The multi-national scope of the project was made even richer when Philip Jungerbluth, a medical student from Germany, recalled a fellow medical student who had a pilot’s license.  Jungerbluth, scheduled to accompany the stem cells in flight, was quickly able to contact his friend, who immediately commandeered a private jet from Germany to pick up the stem cells in England and deliver them safely and in timely manner to the Spanish surgeons awaiting their arrival, asking only the cost of the flight in return for the favor.

Birchall paid the 14,000 pounds for the jet-fueled journey, an expense reimbursed by the university.

Calling it a “gesture of goodwill,” easyJet refunded the cost of Jungerbluth’s unused airline ticket to Barcelona.  A spokesperson for the airline says no records documenting the professor’s request for on-board medical clearance can be found.