‘I had to be there with my mom’
Published:Wednesday | January 12, 2022 | 12:11 AMJanet Silvera/`Senior Gleaner Writer
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WESTERN BUREAU: Noelle Jackson was seated on an American Airlines flight that had just taxied off from the Norman Manley International to Miami Monday morning when she was compelled to appeal to the crew to return to the gate. “I knew something was...
WESTERN BUREAU:
Noelle Jackson was seated on an American Airlines flight that had just taxied off from the Norman Manley International to Miami Monday morning when she was compelled to appeal to the crew to return to the gate.
“I knew something was wrong with my mom and I couldn’t leave,” the Florida-based Jamaican businesswoman told The Gleaner, hours after disembarking the aircraft.
“... I had to be there with my mom,” she said.
Her story of the compassion displayed by American Airlines went viral when a fellow passenger referenced the incident on the Twitter account, @MaestroPetrie.
When Jackson informed the flight attendants of the health concern, they notified the pilot, who taxied back to the gate and allowed her to deboard.
The flight crew was going through the safety and security routine with passengers when she received a call from her sister that her 89-year-old mom Joyce Jackson had weakened considerably.
Noelle thought her mom had taken the ultimate turn for the worse, having witnessed her deterioration last Saturday.
By Monday morning when she was scheduled to return to Miami, Noelle said she looked at her wheelchair-mobile mom, literally willing her to walk again.
“I wish I could take all her pain away. I wish I could make her better, but I can’t, so the most I can do is be there for her,” she said.
The elder Jackson has had a long battle with kidney disease and is on dialysis. Her condition has been described as fragile by her daughter.
By the time she disembarked the aircraft and sped through airport processing by American Airlines staff sympathetic to her cause, Jackson learnt that her mom was diagnosed with COVID and was on oxygen at home being managed via telemedicine.
Fearful of having their mom admitted alone at hospital, the Jackson family opted to care for the matriarch.
Jamaica is in its fourth wave of the respiratory disease, registering on Monday a record daily toll of 1,714 infections and an unprecedented one-day positivity rate of 60.3 per cent.
“We’re trying to figure out what the next steps are right now, but she’s very weak. She’s really delicate ... . It’s touch and go right now,” Noelle told The Gleaner.
Amid the anxiety and uncertainty, Noelle heaped compliments on American Airlines, a carrier she has flown on regularly since Air Jamaica ceased operations.
“They’re reliable. They’re dependable. I mean, they showed compassion. I didn’t think they were gonna stop, and they did,” she said.
“Just from getting my luggage out of the overhead compartment to them even running with me to get a JUTA to get back to the house to my mom, they were with me every step of the way. I’ll never forget it.”
The airline is as elated it was able to bring consolation to both mother and daughter.
“Caring for people on life’s journey is at the centre of everything we do at American and we were happy to be able to assist our customer during such a difficult time,” said Damion Vanriel, American Airlines’ general manager for Jamaica.
Jackson’s heart is still overflowing with gratitude.
“No matter what happens, you have one mother, one father. Everything that they’ve done for you in your life. The least you could do is be there for them when they need you,” she said.