At least 85 Americans are reportedly missing following the devastating floods in Nepal. Among them is Mary Sorensen, a grandmother of four whose final message to her family has now taken on a heartbreaking meaning.
Her loved ones say the “incredible” text gave them a sense of peace — just before she vanished in the deadly floods.
Mary Sorensen had spent years dreaming about making the spiritual journey to Mount Kailash. At 60, the Georgia mother and grandmother finally made it happen — completing the bucket-list pilgrimage she had hoped for.
Then, on her way home, she vanished.
Sorensen, who lived north of Atlanta, had traveled to the Nepal-Tibet region with a group connected to her yoga practice. She wanted to pray, meditate and experience the sacred mountain she had long dreamed of visiting.
Her son, Riley Wildeman, said the journey was a perfect reflection of his mother’s adventurous spirit.
“My brother likes to say that she walks to the beat of kind of her own drum,” Wildeman told ABC News. “She’s so able to find good in everything and find good in everyone and to enjoy every moment.”
And she did exactly what she set out to do. Sorensen reached Mount Kailash and completed the pilgrimage before beginning her journey back toward Atlanta.
But the final message she sent her family has since taken on a heartbreaking significance.
“I’m so grateful that you guys are my family”
Sorensen was on her way down the mountain Tuesday morning when she last communicated with her family.
She was looking forward to the long trip home, her son said, because it would give her time to reflect on everything she had experienced.
“She was looking forward to having such a long travel journey because she wanted to have that time so that she could figure out how to explain to us how amazing it was and how enlightening it was,” Riley said in another interview with People.
Then she ended the message with words her family will never forget.
“She ended that text by saying, ‘I’m so grateful that you guys are my family,’” he recalled.
Riley said the message gives the family some comfort as they continue to wait for news.
“If that is the last text that she sends us — how incredible is that of a goodbye, if that is what it is?” he said.
But her family refuses to give up hope.
“I have so much hope that she’s there somewhere,” Riley said.
She was supposed to be coming home
After completing the pilgrimage, Sorensen was expected to travel through an immigration center before continuing to Kathmandu and eventually flying home to Atlanta. She had plans waiting for her, too. After spending a night at home, she was supposed to travel to Maine to meet her husband, Brian, and spend time with their granddaughters.
Then disaster struck.
The day after her final conversations with her family, catastrophic flooding and a mudslide devastated the region along the Nepal-Tibet border. Contact has still not been established with some of the hardest-hit areas of Nepal, according to the United Nations, as the catastrophic floods continue to take a devastating toll.
More than 1,100 people have now died across Nepal and China, while roughly 4,500 others remain unaccounted for as rescue teams struggle to reach isolated areas.
Sorensen is among the Americans reported missing.
Her husband, Brian, said records indicate Mary arrived at an immigration building on the Nepal-Tibet border on Aug. 26. He believes the floodwaters reached the building less than 10 minutes later.
For the family, the uncertainty has been agonizing.
“I can’t identify what that hope is for. I would love to hear, you know, some higher being call me and say, ‘Hey, she’s on her way home,’ or have Mary call me and say, ‘Hey, it was all a mess, phones were down,’” Brian told People.
Her family knows exactly who Mary is
Those closest to Sorensen say she was deeply spiritual, adventurous and devoted to the people around her.
Her husband described her outlook on life in similarly spiritual terms.
“She was a spiritual being having a physical experience. And when her physical experience was completed, her spirit would live on,” Brian said. “I believe that spirit lives on in hummingbirds and in the breeze and in the sun and in the flowers and in my heart.”
According to People, the couple had been married for 30 years. Together, they raised Riley and embraced Brian’s children from a previous relationship. Their family eventually grew to include four granddaughters.
“You don’t ever give up hope”
Mary’s family has contacted the U.S. State Department and government agencies in Nepal and China as they search for answers.
The family is devastated, but they are trying to hold onto the optimism Mary would have wanted them to have.
“I absolutely hope that they find her and believe in my heart of hearts that that is not a out of the realm of possibility,” he said. “Because if there’s something else that she tried to instill in us is that you don’t ever give up hope.”
What a heartbreaking tragedy this is. We’re hoping with all our hearts that Mary is found safe and gets to return home to the loved ones who are waiting for her.
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