Pilot surprises bone marrow donor during flight (Exclusive)

• Alexandria Reimold was on her way home from visiting her mother in Houston on December 14th.
• While waiting for the plane to take off, she heard an announcement from the pilot over the intercom. The pilot told how he was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia in August 2016 and underwent a bone marrow transplant, and that his donor was on board.
• As a bone marrow donor whose donation saved her life, Reimold was excited to learn that someone on the plane might have a similar story. That's when she realized the story was about herself.
• One of the plane's passengers captured the special moment on camera and later posted it to TikTok, where it went viral and has been viewed more than 600,000 times.

Alexandria Reimold has had a difficult week.

She was on her way home from Houston on Dec. 14 after visiting her mother, who had just suffered a heart attack. She was emotionally drained and exhausted. While waiting for the plane to take off, she sat in her seat and quickly downloaded a file onto her computer so she could catch up on work while on the road to distract herself.

Reimold, a 30-year-old postdoctoral researcher, was busy preparing for takeoff when he heard an announcement over the intercom. Half-listening, I recalled hearing pilot David Whitson say that he had undergone a bone marrow transplant eight years earlier after being diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, and that his donor was on the plane.

Reimold looked around. As a bone marrow donor whose donation saved her life, she was excited to learn that someone else on the plane might have a similar story.

“Then I heard David's name and I put two and two together,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively, recalling the moment she realized this story was about her.

“I was so excited and looked around,” she continues. “It's a very funny experience when something is happening and people don't know it's you. So when I saw David walk down the aisle, I was very, very excited. I was excited.”

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In an interview with PEOPLE, Whitson, who is also a father, explained how he was diagnosed with leukemia in August 2016 after visiting the emergency room with severe headaches and the flu. The captain recalled that at the time of his diagnosis, doctors told him that he would not survive unless he underwent a bone marrow transplant.

Luckily, they found a match in Reimold, then 22 and an 18-year-old undergraduate at Purdue University who became a bone marrow donor. Let's be a match.

“I didn't think anything of it when I signed up,” she recalls. “I thought it was a really great opportunity. The odds of a match are pretty low, so this was just one of those things. Why not sign up for this? I don't know what it's going to lead to.” It was.”

In 2018, after Whitson's successful transplant, Reimold and Whitson first connected when they received an email from Be the Match asking if they were interested in exchanging contact information. As soon as they received the email, they continued typing.

Shortly after connecting online, the two met in person for the first time at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, reuniting donor and recipient. They spoke, gave interviews, and Whitson said she gave Reimold her first big hug, which was caught on camera.

While hugging her, he said he whispered in her ear, “You saved my life.”

Reimold and Whitson have remained in touch ever since. Whitson even added Reimold to her United Airlines benefits list to show her appreciation. So when he recently noticed that their flights overlapped at the same airport, he decided to do something special.

“I had just flown in and was rushing to catch her flight,” he says. “I only had about 40 minutes before she left, so when I landed, I contacted the captain who had flown the plane the day before and asked if it was ok for me to do this. The gate official I got permission from you. It's going to happen.”

“So I gave the passengers a little hello and told them who I was and what was going on,” he added.

But to everyone's surprise, one of the passengers on the plane captured the special moment on camera and later posted it. TikTokwhich has since gone viral, garnering over 600,000 views.

“Never in a million years did I think someone would post this on the Internet and it would spread all over the world,” Whitson said.

“December 21st will be eight years since my transplant,” he continued. “These are strange times for me. Around this time eight years ago, I was in the hospital undergoing high-dose chemotherapy. So this is also a miraculous time. I thought, “I'm happy if I can increase that and give as much as I can.'' I thought, “You know what?'' ”

With their story touching so many lives, Reimold and Whitson are using this opportunity to remind people to get tested and potentially save lives by becoming donors themselves. I would like to use this as an opportunity to learn.

“I'm really excited to see people taking an interest in this,” Reimold said. “A lot of times when you talk about bone marrow, people get a little uncomfortable or a little scared. But as a donor, and I've actually donated twice at this point, I can honestly say that It really isn't.'' As scary as it sounds. ”

“If you give up one day of sitting in the hospital and chatting with the nurses, you can continue to save someone's life,” she added.