Heather Tom Shares the Terrifying Experience of When Her Son Was Missing
During a family trip to the beach, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL star Heather Tom (Katie) experienced every mother’s nightmare when her five-year-old son, Zane, went missing. The actress was wary about sharing her terrifying experience, but finally decided to share her story on Twitter as her fans have always been so supportive.
Tom related how her husband, James Achor, had taken Zane to the showers and after he turned around for two seconds, the boy was gone. “Like gone gone,” she confided. “I was on the beach and James came running up to me asking if he had run past me to the water. I said no and we started a frantic search for him. He was nowhere. I told the lifeguards my son is missing and every horrible thought flashed through my head in a single second.
“James went one way and I went the other screaming his name,” she continued. “A man and his wife said they’d seen a little boy who looked lost wandering down the beach. She was a school teacher and recognized his confusion. I ran that way and I found him. He had actually gone to a lifeguard station but was too shy to talk to the guard. He was looking for our rainbow umbrella. I had never felt such cold, feral fear. I held my boy until he insisted I let go and didn’t take my eyes off of him for the rest of the day.”
And after she regained her composure, Tom found herself reflecting on current events and empathizing with families who are currently without their children. “All I could think about were the women and men who had their kids taken away — sometimes without warning — at the border,” she mused. “I’ve thought it was horrific, but Zane was gone probably less than 10 minutes and I had police and kind people helping to look for him. I didn’t know where my child was, if he was safe, if he was being abused, if he was taken or worse for 10 minutes maybe. These mothers have gone weeks. I don’t know if any of you have experienced anything similar, and I hope you won’t judge me, but believe me, I didn’t feel like he was in summer camp. Thank God we found him.”
We’re just grateful that Zane was found so quickly because fearing for the safety of their child who has gone missing is a nightmare no parent should ever have to go through… for any length of time. For more on your favorite B&B stars, keep reading the CBS edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.
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