Pennsylvania Man Endures Challenging Journey To Rescue Mother-In-Law From Ukraine

A Pennsylvania business owner flew thousands of miles from the U.S. to reach his mother-in-law and get her out of Ukraine.

Alex Hemeryckx, the owner of Brussels Café in Chambersburg, has been posting about his journey on TikTok and Facebook. He is currently in Brussels, Belgium, with his mother-in-law after the tiring ordeal, WGAL News 8 reported.

"It's been a very extensive, unexpected, very short notice plan," he told the outlet.

He said his wife is from Ukraine while he is from Belgium. He decided to take on the mission of getting his mother-in-law out of the war-torn country as the conflict continues to escalate.

"When we noticed that things were getting more and more heated by the hour I knew there's no question I decided to go and get her out myself," he said, as per ABC27.

He left his business on March 3 and flew to Brussels with the mission of getting to the Poland-Ukraine border. From Belgium, he drove for 22 hours straight to reach Poland.

Meanwhile, his mother-in-law had left behind her home in Odessa, Ukraine, with nothing but a backpack and her cat.

"We were able to pay some bribes for my mother-in-law to jump on a train at that time. I mean, as you can imagine, the train is overly packed," he added.

It would have normally taken his mother-in-law 15 hours to get to Lviv by train. However, it took her 22 hours to reach the destination because of the slowdowns and stops caused by the shelling of railroads in nearby towns. She then had to walk 10 miles to the border after the train ride.

"Either you can wait between two to three days to be processed across the gate, or you can pay another bribe to cross faster," Hemeryckx said further.

Without accounting for the money he spent on helping other refugees along the way, Hemeryckx said he shelled out "between $8,000 to $10,000" for his mother-in-law.

Nevertheless, the café owner said the money didn't matter as long as his mother-in-law was safe.

"She knew that as soon as she sees me things will get easier after that. Because you know, I will bring her back to safety. I was her hope," the outlet quoted him as saying.

Hemeryckx put up a Facebook post Monday after finally reuniting with his mother-in-law. "Our first of our mission has been a success," he wrote.

Hemeryckx also said his father-in-law and other relatives are still in Ukraine. His father-in-law is a firefighter for the Ukrainian army and will be staying behind.

"He will not come out either. He will fight for the freedom of his country," Hemeryckx told WGAL News 8.

Hemeryckx said he wouldn't think twice if he had to travel thousands of miles by air and by road all over again.

"Nobody would ever leave anybody from your family, not being safe. It is not a question. You do the right thing," he told the outlet.

Hemeryckx and his mother-in-law are hoping to travel back together to the U.S. Friday. He said he couldn't wait to post another update on TikTok because it would be the reunion between his wife and mother-in-law.