Chambersburg man travels thousands of miles to get mother-in-law out of Ukraine - WGAL Susquehanna Valley Pa.
A Susquehanna Valley man is in Brussels, Belgium, after traveling thousands of miles to get his mother-in-law out of Ukraine.
He's been sharing the story of his journey on social media and spoke to News 8.
"It's been a very extensive, unexpected, very short notice plan," Alex Hemeryckx said.
Hemeryckx left Chambersburg and his business, Brussels Café, on Thursday.
He first flew to Brussels, then drove across Belgium, Germany and Poland for 22 hours straight. He posted his journey on TikTok, getting lots of views.
"Even through part of Germany you could already see some of the extensive refugees fleeing Ukraine in Germany already as you ride on the highway," Hemeryckx said.
His goal was to get to the Poland-Ukraine border to meet his mother-in-law, who lives in Odessa, Ukraine.
She left her home with only a backpack and her cats.
"As soon as we arrived toward the north gate, there was just mass chaos. We had to pay some bribes in Ukraine to be able to get my mother-in-law outside of the city," Hemeryckx said.
His father-in-law is a firefighter for the Ukrainian military.
"He will not come out either. He will fight for the freedom of his country," Hemeryckx said.
Hemeryckx said he would do the flying and driving and deal with the uncertainty all over again in a heartbeat.
"Nobody would ever leave anybody from your family, not being safe. It is not a question. You do the right thing," Hemeryckx said.
He can't wait to make one more TikTok video.
"That will be the reunion between my wife and her mom," he said.
Hemeryckx said he is working on completing the paperwork to get himself and his mother-in-law back to the U.S. on Friday.
Full interview
Watch the full interview with Hemeryckx in the video player below.
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source: https://www.wgal.com/article/chambersburg-man-travels-thousands-of-miles-to-get-mother-in-law-out-of-ukraine/39385761
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