09/11/2026
Twenty-five years ago today, as America’s skies fell silent, a small team in Tennessee worked to get one lifesaving flight off the ground.
In Nashville, a newborn had died. In the midst of unimaginable grief, his family chose to donate his organs. His liver was a match for Kareena, a 6-month-old girl in Houston who was dying of liver failure.
The recovery surgery at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital was nearly complete when every civilian aircraft in the country was grounded. The liver had only hours of viability remaining. Kareena did not have much longer.
Jill Grandas, a transplant nurse coordinator with whom I had worked side by side on scores of transplants in the early 1990s, and the team at Tennessee Donor Services began making calls. When word reached me, the urgency was clear. As a transplant surgeon, I knew every minute mattered.
The Tennessee Air National Guard answered the call.
A C-130 Hercules, an aircraft built to carry tanks and troops, took off carrying a small cooler and an immeasurably precious gift. Its crew flew through an empty sky patrolled by fighter jets, landed in Houston, and transferred the liver without shutting down the engines.
The transplant was successful. Kareena is now 25 years old.
Speaking on the Senate floor several years later, I reflected that September 11 showed us “the worst that evil can do in the world but at the same time the best that we can do in America.”
This story embodies that truth.
A grieving donor family, Tennessee Donor Services, medical teams, public servants, and the Tennessee Air National Guard came together to save a child. Each had a different role. All shared a purpose.
I said then that September 11 impressed upon us that life is a precious gift. Twenty-five years later, that conviction remains.
Today, we remember those killed in the attacks, the families who carry their loss, and the first responders who gave so much. We honor them not only by remembering, but by carrying forward the courage, compassion, and devotion to one another that emerged on our nation’s darkest day.
