LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On January 17, 1994, a historic and deadly snowstorm hit Kentucky at the same time a liver transplant became available in Nebraska for a dying three-year-old Louisvillian named Michelle Schmitt. With the family unable to travel to Nebraska while Kentucky was at a standstill, community members stepped up and created one of the state’s most heartwarming and iconic moments. This story is being released into a nationwide film adaptation, “Ordinary Angels,” starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson.
While the city of Louisville was shut down under 19 inches of snow, a family in Kansas decided to say “yes” to organ donation and save lives when their son suddenly passed away. One of those lives was Michelle Schmitt. Ed Schmitt got the call that a liver was available for his daughter Michelle. The surgery could only be done in Omaha, Nebraska, so the family needed a way to fly out of the snowed-in state within hours. Stevens Evans stepped in and again brought Louisville residents together to make it happen. While a single runway was cleared at the airport, hundreds showed up to shovel the parking lot of Southeast Christian Church so a helicopter could get the family to the corporate jet waiting to fly Michelle and her family to Omaha for her lifesaving liver transplant.
“Anyone can become an organ donor,” Stevens Evans added. “We all can step up to help someone else. I’m just an ordinary person. If I could do it, anyone can.”
Michelle Schmitt received her gift of life that fateful day and celebrated 26 more holidays with her beloved family. She promoted the mission of organ donation and eventually met the family of the donor who saved her life. In 2011, Michelle Schmitt received the gift of a kidney transplant from her best friend, Crystal Olafson. Michelle Schmitt died in May of 2021 when “Ordinary Angels” began filming. Her sister Ashley Schmitt—who has already received the gift of life twice with a liver and kidney transplant—says her sister would have found the film inspiring.
“She would have loved knowing that this movie could help save someone’s life by bringing attention to the mission of organ donation,” said Ashley Schmitt. “As a transplant recipient, I know firsthand the impacts that can happen when total strangers step up to help—whether it’s to shovel a runway or by something even simpler—registering to be an organ donor. Michelle would be honored by this movie and the awareness her story will help raise.”
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