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Good Samaritan comes to aid of exhausted mom on flight

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PHOTO: Facebook/Jessica Rudeen
PHOTO: Facebook/Jessica Rudeen

Have you ever had to fly somewhere with small, crying or restless kids in tow? Then you’ll understand the ordeal this American woman had to face.

Fortunately a caring fellow passenger came to her rescue.

“This guy, Todd, showed me kindness and compassion I've never known from another person,” Jessica Rudeen says on her Facebook page.

Todd Walker says his wife once had a similar experience when she had to fly somewhere when their two sons were little and a stranger offered her the same kindness.

“I’m blown away by God's hand in this because we could’ve been placed next to anyone, but we were seated next to one of the nicest men I’ve ever met in my life," Jessica says.

It was the first time she had to fly with her baby as well as her toddler, who panicked as they boarded the plane. “My four-month-old was screaming his head off,” she says. She hadn’t had time to feed him before the flight.

At first her three-year-old daughter, Caroline, was excited to be boarding the plane – but then decided flying wasn’t for her. She started kicking and screaming, “I want to get off the plane! I don't want to go!”

That’s when Jessica’s knight in shining armour, Todd, stepped in. He took the baby boy, Alexander, from Jessica so she could strap Caroline into her seat and find a movie for her to watch on her tablet. Then, while she fed Alexander, Todd kept Caroline occupied.

Todd helped Jessica with Caroline throughout the journey including on a connecting flight from Charlotte to Wilmington in the US. By the end of the trip the two had become best buddies.

“I'm not sure if he caught the kiss she landed on his shoulder while they were looking out the window,” Jessica says. They’ve gotten together again since and Jessica has met Todd’s wife, who was also once lucky enough to have had a guardian angel on a flight. 

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