Passengers Share Messages Of Hope On Napkins For Flight Attendant With Pancreatic Cancer
PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — A plane full of perfect strangers jotted down messages of love and support on napkins for a flight attendant with pancreatic cancer.
The brother of Louann Alexander asked passengers to write a message of support for his sister who spent decades as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines.
She loved it and she never left until now and not by choice: cancer decided for her.
She is now in hospice.
"It sort of hit me that my sister all of a sudden would never be flying again," said Rex Ridenoure.
Ridenoure wanted to give her that last flight before she died.
And so, on a Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore back to Los Angeles earlier this month and just days before he would go see her in Arizona, he got the idea.
He told the plane full of people all about Alexander, her career, their family, and her cancer. He even showed her picture and asked the other passengers to write messages on a napkin.
While Ridenoure said he expected just a few, "three to four minutes later, I get a stack of six, then 10 minutes later, I get a stack of like 20, and I go, 'Wow,' " he said.
He got 96 napkins in all. Some had short messages, others long, and all of them were heartfelt.
"As I started reading them, I just teared up and was basically crying between Denver and Albuquerque. Every one was just really touching," he said.
"Louann, you are so strong. You are in my prayers," said one message.
Another said, "Louann, you would blush if you heard the lovely words your brother said about you. Obviously, you are special."
A third said, "Louann, you are not alone in this journey."
Some passengers took hours to craft their words or their art. One even made a head scarf knitted from scratch.
Alexander read them all and hopes with her story comes awareness and early detection.
It seems she is always trying to serve.
"She's very humble and I'm just now appreciating how good of a job she did," he said. "I'm really proud of her for that."