A mother's Facebook post has reminded us all that there's good in the world. Kelsey Rae Zwick shared the story of a recent journey during which a kindly stranger offering his first-class plane seat to her so she could sit with her sick baby.
The woman was travelling from Orlando to Philadelphia with Lucy, one of her 11-month-old twin daughters.
They were travelling to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia because baby Lucy suffers from severe chronic lung disease as a result of a complications during pregnancy.
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Kelsey expressed her thanks in a Facebook post, which has since been deleted, alongside a picture of herself and a smiling baby Lucy. The post went viral with over 600,000 likes and has been shared 400,000 times.
She begins: "To the man in 2D. Today you were traveling from Orlando to Philly. I don't know you, but I imagine you saw us somewhere. I was pushing a stroller, had a diaper bag on my arm and also lugging an oxygen machine for my daughter. We had smiles on our faces as we were headed to see her 'friends' at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia).
"We pre-boarded the plane, got cozy in our window seat and made jokes to those around us about having to sit by my yelling-but-happy baby. The flight attendant came over and told me you were waiting to switch seats. You were giving up your comfortable, first class seat to us."
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She continued: "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. I smiled and thanked you as we switched but didn't get to thank you properly.
"Sooo... thank you. Not just for the seat itself but for noticing. For seeing us and realizing [sic] 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."
The generous passenger was recently revealed by the Daily Mail to be 46-year-old Jason Kunselman (pictured above), an industrial engineer from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He told the newspaper: "I just hoped that she had a better flight with more room."
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Taking her seat at the back of the plane he joked that being so far back almost caused him to miss his connecting flight to Harrisburg.
When the flight landed a lot of passengers approached Jason to thank him for his kind gesture.
American AIrlines also responded to the story: 'We truly appreciate the kindness of the gentleman in 2D. We were able to connect the two of them together, and our team is reaching out to him as well to extend our thanks for the kind gesture. In the words of Kelsey, we also want to pay it forward with our thanks and appreciation," a spokesperson said.
"Thank you doesn't cover it," Kelsey wrote to Jason in a private message. "The world clearly needed your kindness."
Featured Image Credit: PA Images