A liver became available for 6-month-old Kareena, who needed a transplant on Sept. 11, 2001. But as events from that morning unfolded, all flights across the country were grounded. The chances of getting the organ from Nashville to Houston seemed impossible — with only an eight-hour window before the liver would expire.
On a regular day, a chartered plane would have handled the delivery. But that morning, Tennessee Donor Services was left scrambling to figure out how to transport the liver to Texas Children's Hospital.
The call for help eventually reached a C-130 flying squadron in Nashville, where Air Force pilot Chuck Echols answered, received all the information about the mission and ran the request through the proper channels.
“[Chuck] asked me if I could fly that day,” said John Howard, also an Air Force pilot. “And I agreed to it.”
A flight plan was in motion, security forces were on board, and the small cooler holding the liver was loaded onto the aircraft. When clearance finally came, the crew took off immediately, knowing the liver was nearing its halfway point until expiration.
“We were on the runway between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., sitting there waiting with engines running, in hopes that they would allow us to take off,” he said.
Twenty‑five years later, John often finds himself thinking back to that two‑hour flight — from the quiet airspace, the long waiting and the part he played in saving a life that day.
In the moment, the journey to Houston felt much longer.
“Those seconds and minutes were long, and I’m sitting there like ‘Wow, are we going to get there?’” he said. “We’re all looking out the windows, looking for just anything.”
When they landed in Houston, the crew handed off the cooler and headed back to Nashville. That night, John learned the transplant surgery was successful.
Today, Kareena is a college graduate and thriving in Houston. John says their connection began only a few years ago, and since then they stay in touch, checking in once or twice a year, especially around Sept. 11.
“If there’s anybody that should have gotten that liver that day, it’s her,” he said. “I am so proud of her. She is truly a superstar.”
Looking back, the experience changed how John thought about his work and his future. He felt called to something more and started looking for ways to serve his community.
He says that day taught him not to be overcome by fear, but to push through it when someone’s life is on the line, to be a blessing to someone else.
After serving 10 years in the Air Force, that search led him to Chick-fil-A Long Beach at the Long Beach Towne Center, where he opened the franchise’s first freestanding restaurant in Los Angeles County.
He brought the leadership and discipline he learned from the military into his restaurant. He worked wherever he was needed, from the kitchen and drive‑thru to even wearing the cow suit to set an example for his team.
“A lot of leadership has to do with people,” John said. “I always say, you lead people, and you manage things.”
He always helped his team members beyond their shifts. When a single mom relied on buses and ride shares to make her shifts, he told her he would match every dollar she saved for a car.
“She brought me her bank statement like six months later, and I gave her the exact amount of what she showed me,” he said.
John says he is most proud of the people whose lives he touched on both sides of the counter. Over the years, he watched team members grow up, start families and move on to new careers, and those stories meant more to him than sales or awards.
But earlier this year, he decided to step away from the franchise. The restaurant was running smoothly, but after more than 20 years, the role felt less hands‑on, and rising costs and changing conditions in California made it harder to run the business. He saw how the higher cost of living made it harder for families to treat themselves to a Chick-fil-A meal.
“I really felt that my opportunity to go out and try something different was right there in front of me,” he said. “I pondered it for about a good year and finally became at peace with letting it go and pursuing something else.”
As he looks ahead, John is exploring a new opportunity in Long Beach that he hopes will let him work with young people and serve the community on a broader scale. He says it draws directly on his experience in business, marketing and mentoring the next generation.
Whether in the Air Force, at Chick-fil-A Long Beach or whatever comes next, he returns to the same idea — each day is a chance to help someone.
It’s his way of living by a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”
“If there’s anybody that should have gotten that liver that day, it’s her. I am so proud of her. She is truly a superstar.”