A Young Man Was Abroad and In Trouble, Mom Turned to Grown and Flown for Help

By: Helene Wingens

It started yesterday with a post on the Grown and Flown Parents group by a mom, Sarah Breheny Fedorko, who was desperate to help her son:

Does anyone have someone in Geneva, Switzerland? My son landed there within the last 12 hours, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital within hours of arriving…He landed today for a study abroad that was starting in March. He was planning on just traveling until March. He had a seizure and was taken to the hospital before he even got his European SIM card to put into his phone. He is still in the hospital tired and just a little disoriented, hungry, thirsty…

Almost five hundred people left comments which were overwhelmingly thoughts and prayers from fellow moms who deeply felt and clearly understood this mom’s anguish. There were helpful suggestions to post in other groups, calls to contact the US embassy, assurances that Switzerland had top notch medical care and several people who offered to reach out to friends they knew who were living in Switzerland.

This young man needed help in Switzerland-one mom heeded the call. Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

Then another mom on the site responded with, 

Turns out I have a friend there right now that is offering to help. It is 11pm there…I will private message you both now to make a connection….!

The group breathed a collective sigh that it seemed like a connection had been made.

The next day, a grateful Sarah updated the group,

I am humbled and grateful beyond words, truly. I have had a plethora of people reach out to me and the night grew later and later. At 2:00 AM they released him from the hospital. A saint, a mother on this site, drove thirty minutes to pick him up at 2:30 AM, and safely deliver him to his bed. 

I am normally a woman who cannot be rattled, but I am in tears. A mother across the world took care of him (my son) for me. She put her eyes on him and assured me he was okay. We will see what happens tomorrow, but tonight he is safely in bed. Tomorrow he was supposed to start traveling through Europe for 8 weeks before classes start…he will be resting for a few days. 

Thank you to the hundreds, literally hundreds of moms who have reached out to me on Grown and Flown. You have no idea how much it helped. I am always available, always, if you have a child in need in St. Louis.

When I contacted Sarah to ask her if it was okay for me to share her story publicly, she replied,

Absolutely, I am still crying. A mother who knows nothing about me or my son stayed up waiting for  my text. She drove thirty minutes to make it all okay, to make sure that a tired, rattled kid who just landed in her country was safe and that his mother could know if he really was okay. 

You certainly can share…

It is easy to focus on the bad in the world-those are the stories that most commonly make the nightly news. But it’s nice to hear about a moment when almost 500 moms rallied around another mom, without regard to anything except the fact that she had a kid who needed help. In that moment, we were all her.

In fact, it’s not just nice to hear about parents supporting other parents, it’s a veritable balm to the heart. 

You Will Also Enjoy:

When Her Son Got Hurt in Alaska, Here is the Mom Who Helped

Moms Helping Moms: Paying this Vintage Wedding Gift Forward

Source: https://grownandflown.com/son-abroad-trouble-grown-and-flown-helps/

The content is owned by Helene Wingens. Visit site here for other valuable articles.

Share Us Your Thought!

You are invited to share your thought related to the post above in the comment box. You can share about your tips/experiences as parent or as a kid (if you're in that position).

Would You Share The Post?

And if you find it's interesting post and have a value for others, please share it to your friends. Thank you.