A war zone.
That’s what 31-year-old basketball player Maurice 'Mo' Creek was caught in when Russia invaded Ukraine last week.
Creek, a professional basketball player in Europe, found himself stuck, trying to get to Moldova as the war raged on.
“The power would cut out, jets [would be] flying over the top of your building...you hear sirens and the reports of shelling… [and] we had to go to a bomb shelter," recalled Creek. "...All of that stuff plays into a part of your mental stress, and I was mentally stressed a couple of times.”
Now, after an unthinkable ordeal, Creek is home. It's all thanks to a Fairfield-area man, Erik Nordberg.
Nordberg, a retired Green Beret, met Creek at a charity basketball event organized by Sideline Cancer in Pennsylvania.
Creek said Nordberg's aid is who helped him to safety.
“That’s my guy," said Creek. "I would not be here without him and his team.”
Creek’s mother, Pammy Morgan, said she endured a grueling few days of near misses trying to get her son back.
"At one point he tweeted 'I'm leaving I'm getting out,' and then minutes later it was, 'I'm still here and can't get out,'" said Morgan. "It was a punch to the gut...and he [Nordburg] had only met Maurice once, and when he heard Maurice was over there he said, 'Okay we have to go get him,' and that’s what he did."
After several days, Creek finally arrived at Dulles International Airport, hugging his parents in an emotional embrace.
It was a moment that Morgan says her family will never take for granted: “We are so grateful, and that’s just putting it mildly.”