A mum who lost her son on a beach three years ago wants to find the stranger who helped her.
Toni Simpson, 41, says her son, Thomas Baron, now seven, briefly went missing on Bridlington beach back in 2018 when he was just four.
Hull Live reports that after he was found by a teenager, she shared an appeal in the hope of finding her.
The post explained how Thomas' mum and his dad, Jason Baron, wanted to thank the teenager.
"I need your help everyone," Mrs Simpson, wrote at the time. "I'm trying to find the young lady who found Thomas on the south side of Bridlington beach when he got lost.
"Can everyone please share this post because I really do need to find her. Bridlington beach (south) 8th August... Did you find my little
boy? Please share the hell out of this."
And that is exactly what people did - and still do to this day.
Three years on and her so-far-unsuccessful appeal to locate the youngster continues.
"This happened years ago," she told Hull Live. "My post was shared thousands of times but we've had no luck finding her. It happens every year. The post just gets shared somehow."
Recalling what happened, she said: "It was by far the scariest ten minutes of our lives. Thomas won’t leave our sides when we go
anywhere. He was there one minute and gone the next.
"He ran down the beach chasing the little train. He was found as the lifeguard began to get ready. Thomas will have been four years old."
The 41-year-old said she can understand why her appeal continues to be shared after so long.
"I think my post gets shared still to this day because it’s an appeal to find someone and people genuinely love to help others," she said.
"It’s human nature, especially as it involves a child.
"We never did find the teenage girl who found him that day. I’d sent my eldest daughter to run back to her to give her some money but she was gone.
"When we realised he was gone, my life flashed before me and everything bad that could have happened… had he been taken? Had he gone into the sea?
"My heart was literally in my mouth and dad was close to tears too. I was beyond myself and couldn’t even think straight, the relief was immense."
Mrs Simpson said she would still like to find the woman who helped: "I would really like to thank her because anything could have happened to Thomas.
"God forbid he'd have gone into the sea, I might not have had him now. That's how I feel.
"She is obviously a very responsible young lady. She must have been brought up really well. I just want to thank her from the bottom of my heart for looking after him.
"I think she only had him for a couple of minutes and then my middle daughter spotted them on the beach. But I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could never repay her.
"As a mother, losing your son on the beach is the worst thing ever."
