EasyJet 'almost ruined pioneering windpipe transplant operation by refusing to carry stem cells on flight'



They were on the verge of an astonishing breakthrough that promised to transform millions of lives.



British scientists had battled all kinds of medical and technological challenges to help create a windpipe grown from a patient's own stem cells.



Now they simply had to fly the cells to the patient in Spain in time for the operation.

But their work was almost undone by the most formidable obstacle of all - the blundering officialdom of a budget airline.



Claudia Castillo become the first person in the world to undergo a whole organ transplant grown from her own stem cells

Even though the transport of the cells had been pre-arranged, easyJet staff deemed the cells a security risk because they were carried in a test tube exceeding the 100ml limit for liquids.

Professor Martin Birchall, the scientist in charge of the cells, pleaded with staff at Bristol airport to allow the package on the flight.



He explained that the 60million cells could only survive outside laboratory conditions for 14 hours.



Martin Birchall, the scientist in charge of the cells, pleaded with staff at Bristol airport to allow the package on board

But the airline refused to allow them on to the plane - and when Professor Birchall protested, he was almost arrested by armed police.



Eventually he was forced to pay £14,000 for a private jet to take the cells to Barcelona, where the operation was a success.



Yesterday, the University of Bristol professor said of easyJet: 'They gave me strict instructions as to how I should present something like a transplant organ, clearly labelled.



'They knew there was liquid and that it was packaged in a way that it would not get out.

On arrival they said it couldn't go on because it would be a security risk.



'I almost got arrested by armed police - I was so furious, trying to explain months of work.'



He added: 'The clock was ticking as we'd taken the cells out of their culture media an hour before.



'We thought about driving to Barcelona but that would have taken too long.



'If we hadn't been able to get the cells there, we would have wasted years of work and this major breakthrough for surgery and science wouldn't have taken place.'



EasyJet said it received no documents asking for clearance for an organ to be transported but offered to refund the cost of the flight - thought to be around £100.

EasyJet staff refused to let the stem cells being used for a landmark transplant on the plane

Professor Birchall - who was also reimbursed by Bristol University for the cost of the private plane - and his team played a key part in the operation on Claudia Castillo, 30, who suffered a collapsed airway caused by TB.



The mother of two became the first person in the world to receive an organ grown from her own stem cells.



From being virtually bedridden after her windpipe became blocked, she is now able to resume the active life she once had.



Within 20 years, the technique could become the normal way of carrying out transplants.





