‘Never wanting to let him go again’: Matthew Grant’s father describes joy of reunion with son
The dad of missing RIT Student Matthew Grant spoke to News10NBC Wednesday evening after his son was found safely.
“He is worth every ounce of everything we’ve given, every mile we’ve driven, every ounce of energy we’ve given. He’s worth that and more,” Mark Grant said.
When Grant reunited with his son, he hugged him so tight — just like he did when he was a baby — and said, “I’ll never want to let you go.”
Marsha Augustin: Is this the best Christmas gift ever?
Mark Grant: By far!
It’s been more than three weeks of searching and prayers that stretched hundreds of miles. Through faith, family and support, Grant knew the day would come when Matthew would be found safely.
Marsha: How did it feel to just hug him and feel him against you?
Mark Grant: I can’t describe it, I just can’t. Kind of like holding him when he was a baby. That feeling of never wanting to let him go again.
Mark Grant explained that the family flew from Detroit to Pennsylvania as soon as they got word Matthew’s car was found Tuesday night.
The family got to Pennsylvania early Wednesday morning.
They met with the Park Service Team, which had a search team organized.
“And partway through the day my phone rang, and it was him and he didn’t even know we were there, how close we were to him,” Grant said.
It was the phone call Grant had been waiting for. He learned he was only 40 miles away from his son.
“It was shocking to him and to us, and we just got to him as quick as we could and hugged him as hard as we could,” Grant said.
It’s something he’ll never stop doing for the rest of his life.
“I told him, I said, dude, you are going to get tired of me hugging you for the next 40, 50 years. I said I’m going to live that long just so that I can hug you that many times,” Grant said.
Wednesday night, Grant said the family was grabbing a bite to eat and they were taking care of Matthew.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office thanked investigators, deputies and the multiple agencies that worked with the family to find Matthew.
Such a happy ending.