The news was hard to hear. Nicole Parris’ infant daughter had survived a high-risk double lung transplant, but she would need to return to a hospital in St. Louis every 6 months for the rest of her life. For Nicole and her family in Florida, this would be nearly impossible if not for Southwest Airlines Medical Transportation Grant Program. In this episode, we’ll hear how the program that was created to provide much-needed assistance to medical patients and their family members forever impacted recipient Nicole Parris. 

For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen