After a stranger saved a 4-year-old boy from a stray hockey puck during a Cleveland Monster’s game, the boy’s mother hoped to track down the hero. Thanks to a TikTok video, she was able to find him in a matter of hours.
According to The Washington Post, the near miss happened with just about a minute left on the clock. A player slapped the puck, and it went sailing into the stands toward the little boy, Nasir. A fan sitting beside Nasir jumped up and stopped the puck with his arm. Had he not, the puck would have hit the little boy in the head.
Nasir’s mother, Asia Davis, thanked the man and had her son take a picture with him. But later that night, the gravity of what could have happened hit her. So she contacted the Monsters and asked if someone could help her get in contact with the stranger. Employees said they would do their best. In the meantime, she decided to start her own search on TikTok.
In a video shared on April 14, Asia showed a picture of the man who saved her son, and she asked if anyone knew him.
“I just feel sick when I think about it because I had the reaction time of a sloth,” she admitted. “This dude literally saved my son’s life. He prevented a life-changing event from happening.”
Eight hours after posting, the video had gone viral with 4 million views. And the savior himself—Andrew Podolak—had even seen the video. He sent her a message saying he was glad to have been in the right place at the right time.
The Monsters facilitated a reunion for Asia, Andrew, and Nasir during the April 14th game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The trio stood for a photo shoot and also helped with the pre-game puck drop.
“I saw it soaring on through, and my first instinct was just to cover up,” Andrew recalled with Fox News 8. “I had a couple other kids sitting behind me as well. So I just tried jumping in front of it and it was able to deflect off my hand and luckily go over top of him and fall behind me.”
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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