A plane trip from New York City to Atlanta might have saved a woman's life. Hannah Mullen, who lives in England, was spending time with a friend in New York when the hotel where they were staying froze her important medication.
Hannah has a rare disease called hypopara, but luckily knew of another person with the disease not too far away — just about 850 miles.
Hannah got in touch with Ariana Feiner, who she had never met in person but knew through an organization for people who have hypopara. Then she hopped on a flight to Atlanta to meet Ariana and pick up new medicine.
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Ariana shared their story on the Love What Matters Facebook page.
"Something very special happened today," she wrote. "6 years ago, Liz Glenister introduced me to Hannah Mullen through Hypopara UK. Hannah lives in England and is the only person I know my age who has Hypopara. Hannah and her friend Becky Mitchell were on vacation in NYC this week when their hotel accidentally froze Hannah's very important medicine, Forteo, and she needed my help."
"This afternoon we rushed to fly Hannah and Becky into the Atlanta airport so I could give her some of mine," she continued. "It was an amazing feeling to finally meet Hannah and to share such a rare connection!"
Hypopara, or hypoparathyroidism, is a rare condition that causes someone's body to produce a low amount of a hormone called parathyroid hormone, according to Hypopara UK. Having too little of this hormone causes insufficient levels of calcium in the blood, which in turn causes symptoms like tingling or numbness in your hands, fatigue, dry skin, and even severe symptoms like heart and kidney failure. The medicine that Ariana gave to Hannah protects against osteoporosis.
In a comment on the post, Ariana said she will forever cherish the day she met Hannah. And we're happy to know these girls have a such a special friendship.
"Hannah and I live oceans apart, but we are bonded forever by sharing this rare medical condition," she wrote.