A fear of flying is common, with many people suffering panic attacks as a result. Sometimes it’s just harmless nerves but other times the fear can manifest itself physically.
For adults there are certain medications you can take but if a child is having a panic attack mid air, it’s hard to know what to do.
Mom Erika Jeorgean Swart was on a flight alone with her three children traveling from Orlando to Newark, New Jersey when her 9-year-old daughter started having a panic attack.
When Erika’s nine-year-old daughter Gabby started to have a panic attack on the flight, Erika started to panic herself.
The worried mom was sitting with two of her children next to her and her oldest Gabby was sitting across the aisle.
Gabby was getting more and more stressed and starting to cry and hyperventilate, and the fact that she was also a type one diabetic made the situation even more worrying.
There was a lot of turbulence during the flight which made Gabby panic even more.
Stranger gave her daughter a “special drink” to calm her down
As Gabby held her daughter’s hand across the aisle, feeling helpless, a man approached her and asked Erika if he could sit in the empty seat next to his daughter.
“Throughout the flight he tried making her laugh and (was) bringing her special drinks,” writes Erika Jeorgean Swart in a Facebook post to Southwest Airlines.
The Southwest Airlines’ employee impressed Erika so much by the way he calmed her daughter down and helped her, she took to Facebook to praise his actions.
“He suggested they talk to distract her from thinking about the landing so they talked for around 30 minutes about everything from his daughter who is the same age to her pets to what grade she is going into. During extremely rough turbulence she began crying and grabbed his arm, he gently told her she could hang on as long as she needed to. Just after this due to the extreme stress she was under her blood sugars began dangerously crashing. He got up from his seat to get her an orange juice and came right back to sit with her.”
Erika continue on her Facebook post:
“Once on the ground while taxiing to the gate he came on the intercom and announced that his friend, Gabby, in the front row overcame her fears of flying and asked for a round of applause. The whole plane clapped for her. It was a wonderful experience on Southwest. We are forever grateful to have met such a beautiful, selfless soul.”
What a thoughtful man to help Gabby in this way. In times of trouble you really need people like this around.
Please share to inspire others.
