A sweet story to give you hope
Misha Rohozhyn, a Ukrainian teenager with Down syndrome, escaped besieged Mariupol as his mother wove a motivational fantasy that his pro-wrestler hero John Cena lay at the end of their dangerous journey out of Ukraine.
On Saturday, the fantasy ended with a happy reality, when the U.S. star visited Misha here.
Over a long journey that took Misha out of the familiarity he craves to traverse minefields, hostile Russian soldiers, artillery bombardments and national borders, his mother, Liana Rohozhyna, explained that their constant movement was to find Mr. Cena.
That journey, and the escape of others from the same day center in Mariupol, was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article that was read by Mr. Cena, who arranged a meeting in Huizen, the Dutch town where the family has been staying.
After arriving in the Netherlands last month, Misha, a 19-year-old who is unable to speak, stayed in his bedroom, disoriented by his new surroundings and getting angry with his mother that they hadn’t found Mr. Cena.
As Mr. Cena stepped out of a car on Saturday, wearing his World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. outfit, Ms. Rohozhyna began to cry.
“This is something out of this world,” she said.
There is good in this people. It’s important to try to take note of it once in a while…