The mother soon realized that it was for her own good.
Source: Let’s pay tribute to the airline that did everything in its power to help a mother in need | Newsner
Again, I suspect that things similar – though perhaps not as extreme – as this happen every day. Particularly on Southwest, it would appear. 🙂
The source doesn’t say it, but this happened in 2015
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/southwest-airlines-goes-above-and-beyond-to-help-passenger-whose-son-was-hospitalized-in-denver
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/05/27/southwest-reroutes-flight-for-woman-to-see-comatose-son.html
All the articles I found linked back to BoardingArea blog as the original source, and I wasn’t able to find the exact post.
Oh, wow. Thank you for that research. I try to keep NANIB more current than that. (I do try to trace back sources as well, but clearly missed in this case.)