Disabled Teen Who Fled Ukraine Meets John Cena, the Wrestling Star Who Motivated His Journey
(sorry, not a Jan 6 post but a heart warming one)
HUIZEN, Netherlands—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.
Their flight from Mariupol illustrated the extra layers of trauma that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome and autism, can experience during wartime. For some with these conditions, changed routines can stir extreme stress. Those with sensory hypersensitivity find explosions, sirens and raised voices particularly jarring. Physical disabilities make escape harder.
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Saturday was among the first times Misha had smiled since the war began, his mother said. Misha had prepared for Mr. Cena all morning, tidying his room and preparing his own version of the wrestling outfit, a red T-shirt, matching socks, dark shorts and baseball cap. When Mr. Cena arrived, Misha was shocked still, Ms. Rohozhyna said. Misha and Mr. Cena hugged, before the actor and wrestler gave him a WWE belt and other memorabilia. “I didn’t want a son to think of his mom in a different light just because she did whatever she had to do to get him to safety,” said Mr. Cena, who had been filming in London. “I wanted to tell him today personally that his story really touched me,” he said.
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/disabled-teen-who-fled-ukraine-meets-john-cena-the-wrestling-star-who-motivated-his-journey-11654605227 (subscription)
= new reply since forum marked as read
My opinion of John just went through the roof.
