High School Senior Rescues Heartbroken 9-Year-Old Girl After Her Military Father Misses Unique Performance

Mar 27, 2019 by apost team

Many military families have to deal with the absence of a parent due to a deployment or time away in the field. While it is a part of the military lifestyle, it is often hardest on the children who have to deal with not having a mother or father around. It is especially difficult when that child is young and impressionable.

For children with a parent in the military, it's sometimes difficult to participate in everyday activities after school or try to be one of the kids who act like everything is normal when their parent isn't there. These children want the parent who is away to be at special events and to be at home to enjoy holidays as well as nightly meals with the family.

When there is a special event like a school dance or a competition, the absence of the parent is felt even more. This is what happened in October 2016 to Addie Rodriguez, who was then just a 9-year-old girl. She was a student at St. John Bosco Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas, and was part of the cheer squad. But one fateful day, there was a routine that involved the students' dads. Since her father, Senior Airman Abel Rodriguez had just gone to California ahead of being deployed, he wouldn't be there to participate in the father-daughter routine.

As her mom stood on the sidelines, she witnessed her daughter break down in tears. The moment was heartbreaking until all of a sudden a stranger jumped down from the grandstand, went up to Addie, and within minutes had lifted her up to ensure she didn't miss out on performing the routine with her teammates. The little girl's tears soon became a smile and the uplifting story has since gone viral.  

As Addie, then just a fourth-grader, performed alongside others at Central Catholic High School that day, a bunch of the other cheerleaders’ dads came out to join them on the field. The fathers then all proceeded to lift up their daughters onto their shoulders. However, Addie did not have her father there that day. She was left alone on the field because her dad had recently left for training at the Travis Air Force Base, located states away from the family in California. Abel is a veteran of the Air Force and has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Addie missed him terribly, but she also knew it was part of the military lifestyle.

That day, Addie stood off on the sidelines as the father-daughter routine began. What's more, she began to cry as all the emotions of her father not being there hit her. Addie's mother, Alexis Perry-Rodriguez, watched on from the grandstand as she saw her daughter struggling a bit and then crying all alone. The mother's heart broke because she knew that her daughter wanted her father there so much. 

Out of nowhere, a kind young man jumped over the fence to save the day. He ran over to Addie and took her father's place in the routine and managed to put a smile back on her face. The young man was then-17-year-old Matthew Garcia, who was a senior at Central Catholic. He was there that day to support his younger brother, who attended St. Luke Catholic School, which was the school competing against Addie's school, St. John Bosco that day. Addie's mom told Today:

"(Addie) was kind of shocked and scared at first, but then when he knelt down to tell her, 'I'm going to pick you up, too,' she was really happy and thankful ... She said, 'He saved my life, mom!' He made her feel so good about herself."  

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Of the incredibly kind gesture, Garcia said that there was no way he could just sit back and watch the little girl experience heartbreak in front of everyone. That was why he decided to run down from the bleachers and jump the fence. He went over to talk to Addie and asked her whether she was okay or not. When he saw that she definitely wasn’t, Garcia knew he had to step in and do something. 

Alexis told ABC News that her heart melted when she realized what Garcia was doing. She added to Today:

"I just broke into tears when I realized what he was doing ... I couldn't even talk."

Garcia told the news outlet that he was sympathetic to Addie's situation since his parents had divorced earlier in his life. He said:

"I understood what it was like to not have a dad there, so when I saw her crying like that, it just struck a chord with me ... It was instinct, I guess. I just couldn't see her like that."

After the kind gesture, Garcia left quickly, although Alexis had managed to get one photo of him and Addie together. But the Rodriguez family didn't even know his name and wanted to extend their thanks once more. This prompted Alexis to post a photo on her Facebook to ask if anybody knew who the upstanding young man was. That's when the story spread quickly in the San Antonio area. 

Meanwhile, Garcia, who was a selfless hero that day, felt he got more from the interaction than Addie. He told Today:

"Seeing her smile after the way she was crying, that probably made my day even more than hers, to be honest with you ... When Addie thanked me after the game, it was just really moving to me." 

What do you think about Matthew Garcia's incredibly selfless actions that day? Have you ever witnessed someone help out a stranger in a time of need before? Let us know and pass this on to those you know!