We all remember that part in the movie Cast Away where Chuck Noland found his friend Wilson on a deserted island. He didn’t have anyone to speak to buy himself or Wilson and would sometimes get into arguments with his newfound friend.
Towards the end of the movie Noland builds a raft and takes Wilson with him, he makes it pretty far out and quickly notices his friend Wilson floating away. He cries in agony as he watches his only friend be washed away by the sea. However, the entire time Wilson was nothing more than a sports ball. A volleyball to be exact, and sure many laughed and chuckled at the idea, but maybe Noland was onto something…
Harsh currents washed a 30-year-old person out deep into the ocean while he was on a beach vacation – however, just like the one in the movie, he used a soccer ball to help keep his head above water – literally – and hung on for dear life.
The Macedonia man endured 18 long excruciating hours of being thrown around by the large waves and having the sun beat down on him in the ocean all while holding onto a soccer ball that was just a little flat over in the Aegean Sea before he was spotted and rescued from around 15 miles away.
Ivan, who considers himself a pretty good swimmer was starting to grow weary and tired after being in the ocean for so long. He later saw a rainbow-colored ball start to float closer and closer to him. Was this a hallucination?
It wasn’t, it was a real ball, a real ‘Wilson’ coming to save the day! At the point when news broke out about Ivan’s real-life ‘Wilson!’ moment, a couple of Greek kids said that the ball he was holding onto the whole time was theirs. They had lost it while playing 10 days prior when they were playing football (soccer) on the island of Lemnos which is approximately 80 miles away.
Ivan was luckily spotted by some Greek Air Force helicopters who were also looking for Ivan’s friend who had also been missing. Presently, he hasn’t been found, as indicated by Global News.
Kassandra Mayor Anastasia Chalkia shared a photograph presenting the ball close to Ivan’s dad outside a clinic in the northern promontory region, she also took to social media and made a statement about the safeguarding of Ivan on Facebook:
“I was constantly informed about the progress of the rescue and I am very happy about the happy ending of the young man’s adventure. Investigations are continuing to locate the third missing person. I hope that the third boy will be found alive very soon.” The young man found a ball which saved his life as it helped him when he was tired. Thanks to the port police, the EKAV and the Kassandra Health Center, the air force, the Greek police, the fishermen’s boats of Nea Skioni, the 2 ships that sailed in the area, all the rescue teams, and the volunteers. #ЕКАВ #ЛИМЕНИКО Anastasia Chalkia Anastasia Chalkia Mayor of Kassandra”
Was it a stroke of perfect luck for Ivan, or was it a blessing from above? Either way, it’s crazy to see Cast Away happen in real life – to some degree, and just like the movie – he didn’t succumb to the elements and lived to tell the tale.
This story syndicated with permission from My Faith News