Tears and relief as mum, son reunited
TEARS flowed as a Townsville mother put her arms around her son for the first time in almost three months, after he was locked out of Queensland because of a Covid-19 outbreak interstate.
Nate Russell, 10, had been stuck at his grandparents house at Orange since June after a surprise school holiday trip was ruined when coronavirus cases broke out in New South Wales.
His mum Kaycee Thomas had been fighting to bring her boy home to Townsville after
the Queensland government slammed the border shut and she was unable to afford the cost of hotel quarantine.
After pressure from the Townsville Bulletin, Queensland Health approved Nate’s home quarantine exemption on Thursday evening.
On Saturday, the pair were reunited at Archerfield Airport in Brisbane after Angel Flight rounded up an aircraft in less than 24 hours and offered its services to bring Nate home.
“When I got there I just cried, it was the biggest sigh of relief to give him a huge cuddle,” Ms Thomas said.
“And (it was great to) just to know it’s over. But obviously it’s not over for other families, so let’s hope this gets the ball rolling to get more people home.”
A pilot flew from Sydney picked up Nate and his grandad from Orange early Saturday morning and flew them to Brisbane.
There they swapped planes and pilots, said goodbye to Nate’s grandad, and met Ms Thomas on the tarmac.
The mother and son then flew the almost four-hour flight home to North Queensland.
Ms Thomas and Nate arrived at Townsville on Saturday afternoon to Nate’s awaiting stepdad, who he will quarantine at home with for 14 days.
The pair were exhausted, but glad to be home.
“I’m forever thankful for everyone who helped me out, even the people at the exemption office,” Ms Thomas said.
“They stayed back until 10pm on Thursday to process some exemptions, so hopefully Anastacia will see this and put more people on shift to cycle through those exemptions.”
Ms Thomas said she never imagined she would see her son so soon, after preparing to be without him until after Christmas.
She chose to postpone her wedding, originally set for next week, as she didn’t think her son or dad could make it.
They even enrolled Nate into a school at Orange to ensure he didn’t fall behind in school.
Ms Thomas hoped that her situation could help other families with kids stuck over the border.
“There needs to be more compassion and it needs to be processed on a case-by-case basis,” she said.