Florida mother Kelsey Zwick boarded an American Airline flight last week along with her 11-month-old daughter Lucy, who was born a premature twin and suffers from chronic lung disease. Zwick was taking her young daughter to Philadelphia where she would receive treatment at a children’s hospital. Traveling with an infant is never easy and it was especially difficult in this mother’s case. Lucy required an oxygen tank in order to breathe properly. Zwick managed to tote the tank, a diaper bag, and the rest of their supplies through the airport, all while attending to her sick daughter. She was relieved to finally have made it aboard the plane and was settling in for the long flight. That’s when she was approached by a flight attendant who informed her that a passenger in first class had offered to give up his seat to her and her daughter, according to Today .
“At first, I didn’t really understand what he was saying,” said Zwick. “When I realized that it was someone showing kindness to us, I just started crying.” The generous stranger was Jason Kunselman of Pennsylvania. He had spotted the mother and her baby in line ahead of him while they were preparing to board the plane. Seeing her struggling, he thought that they both might be more comfortable in his first class seat.
#PAproud of this PA’ian who, in a random act of kindness, gave up his first class seat for a mom and her 11-month-old daughter on their way to @ChildrensPhila Hospital. ? https://t.co/tez624OrAj
— Pennsylvania (@PennsylvaniaGov) December 11, 2018
Kunselman said his birthday was the following day and he had hoped to make his birthday special by making someone else’s day a little bit brighter. “It was the perfect birthday gift, seeing that I could help someone else out and make someone happy. She walked up crying. I’m not much of a crier, but it was hard not to. One flight attendant put her hand on my cheek and said, ‘God will repay you for this,’” he said recounting the encounter.
Zwick was so touched by the man’s generosity that she waited by the gate after the flight, hoping to thank the man for his selfless gesture. Unfortunately, he slipped away before she had a chance to thank him in person. She later turned to Facebook to share the simple act of kindness that meant more than Kunselman could have realized at the time. The mother wrote that she plans to one day tell her daughter about the occurrence in hopes of showing her the value of paying it forward. “To the man in 2D… Thank you. Not just for the seat itself, but for noticing,” she wrote.
