BENTONVILLE (KFSM)-- A Northwest Arkansas mother returns home after a post she made online looking for a stranger went viral.
Jessica Rudeen was traveling with her two young kids to see family on the east coast.
Their first flight out of Kansas City was early and they had to drive to get there.
As they boarded the plane, Rudeen said her 5-month-old son started crying and her 3-year-old daughter Caroline panicked.
"I try to be the parent that has it all together and in that moment, there was not getting it all together and that’s I think why Todd reaching out to help was so impactful because I couldn’t do it by myself," Rudeen said.
Todd is Todd Walker, the stranger sitting with the Rudeens on the flight.
The mother said as she tried to figure out how to calm her kids, Walker asked to hold her son Alexander.
That gave her enough time to get Caroline settled with a movie, which in turn gave her a chance to feed Alexander.
But something happened during the rest of the flight.
Caroline and Walker became quick friends.
Photos show Walker could even be seen coloring with the child during the flight.
Rudeen said Walker continued to help her family as the plane landed and they both got on the same connecting flight.
They all said goodbye after that.
Rudeen explained though that she and her husband, who was not on the flight, wanted to say thank to the complete stranger so she made a post on Facebook.
She explained her story and asked for help finding Walker.
Her post eventually went viral and Rudeen found Walker and his family.
They have stayed in touch since that early morning flight.
He even helped Caroline one more time before they flew home to Bentonville.
"We FaceTimed with them on Monday night so they could encourage her for the flight the next day," Rudeen said. "She just loves seeing them and talking to them.”
She never expected that nightmare morning to turn out the way it did or for it to get any attention.
Now that it has, she hopes others will be inspired to help their neighbors just like Walker did on that early morning flight from Kansas City.