Loudoun County pharmacist drives 100 miles to pick up life-sustaining drug for young patient
CHANTILLY, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - For Warren and Nikki Linscott, hearing that their second daughter Callie would be born with a rare medical condition was difficult, but the Virginia couple was grateful they found out just weeks before she was born so they could get the proper medical treatment.
They were able to find a specialist in New York and Callie had five surgeries by the time she was just 3 months old to save her life.
It was tough on the family, who already had a toddler, Callie's older sister Reese.
The first few years were spent in and out of hospitals, but they were finally able to get to a point where Callie was stable. Nikki says they enjoyed traveling as a family and to mark Callie turning 5 years old, they went to Disney World. When they returned from the trip they noticed a change in Callie's health. After a visit to the cardiologist, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, pulmonary hypertension.
"It was emotionally devastating because we were so close to being past all this and to find out that she has an incurable disease that she's going to live with for the rest of her life. Very, very devastating as parents," Warren said.
The new diagnosis meant Callie would need three different types of medication, three times a day and a pump that's attached to her around the clock to help keep her alive. The Linscotts had to navigate several different pharmacies and strict ordering schedules and they say sometimes shipments would be missed or overlooked, which would send them scrambling.
This last time when there was an issue, however, it was something they weren't expecting. A Friday night phone call from their Walgreens pharmacist informed them there was a nationwide shortage of the medications and that it wouldn't be available for two weeks.
The Linscotts were down to a two day supply. Normally, the Linscotts said they would've hung up and started calling around to see if the medicine was available anywhere else. Oftentimes, Warren would have to drive 50 to 60 miles to pick up Callie's medicine from other places. But this time was different.
Laura Thomas was the pharmacist who called Nikki that evening. Thomas told the family she would call around and try to find the medication. She called the family back and told them she'd found Callie's life-sustaining medication at a store 100 miles away. But that's not where the conversation ended. She told them she would drive the two hours to pick it up on Easter Sunday and that it would be in the store on Monday. Nikki and Warren say they were floored.
"It's just amazing that they would take it upon themselves to look out for our daughter like that," Warren says.
"She just did it. She didn't expect anything in return and to me that's amazing. I'm still speechless because we never had anyone do something that nice for us", Nikki shared.
"I took it upon myself. I wanted to make sure Callie was taken care of and I'm so glad I was able to do that for her," Thomas told FOX 5's Erin Como.
To thank Thomas for helping to Pay It Forward, FOX 5 and Easterns Automotive Group teamed up to surprise Thomas for her kind act. Joel Bassam of Easterns Automotive Group presented Thomas with a spa package for two at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg and a dinner for two at Texas de Brasil.
If you know someone who should be featured on Pay It Forward, you can nominate them here. In your email, be sure to include who they are and why they deserve to be recognized.