A 6 a.m. call woke Sarah Gaither on March 2 with news someone wanted to help her get out of Qatar.
She had no idea who they were. She thought the stranger was scamming her, or setting her up to get kidnapped.
But in the end, she thought, “this is my chance to go, missiles are still going off.”
Gaither, a 27-year-old dog walker from Dallas wasstranded when her Feb. 28 flight to Dallas was diverted back to Doha following joint aerial strikes by the U.S. and Israel on Iran.
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The call she received two days later was from Alex Bruesewitz, an adviser to President Donald Trump who also was stuck in Doha and trying to help people get back home to the United States.
The air strikes forced airlines to ground flights after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. Gaither spent three days stranded in Doha after only intending to make a brief stop there following an African safari.
She said Bruesewitz, a GOP consultant and social media adviser to Trump, is the reason she was able to make it back home to Dallas on March 3.
“I’m just thanking God and my lucky stars, honestly,” she said. “It’s incredible that Alex even got in contact with me, I was not expecting that at all. The fact that we made it out safely and I’m home, I could still be there. I know plenty of people that are still stuck there.”
When Gaither got that early morning call, she groggily answered the phone and learned Bruesewitz was trying to get people out of Doha.
Bruesewitz got her number from a person staying in the same hotel as her, she said. She met Bruesewitz a few hours after the phone call and realized his offer was legitimate.
But every moment leading up to their meeting was nerve-racking, she said.
Bruesewitz’s offer included an hours-long journey across the Middle East and a flight back home.
Gaither, Bruesewitz and six others traveled from Doha to the Saudi Arabian border, she said. After going through customs, they continuously changed cars.
“We had the first car take us to the border,” she said. “Then we jumped in a taxi for us to cross the border. Once we made it across the border and cleared customs, we got into our third car.”
The third taxi took the group through Saudi Arabia to an airport in Riyadh, where Bruesewitz paid for a private jet to fly them to Athens. Getting from her hotel to the airport took about 10 hours, she said.
As they ascended, she said the atmosphere on the jet was tense.
“I mean, everyone was scared,” she said. “ Nerves are high. It’s a long day. Everyone was, you know, somewhat happy but also everyone was still like, ‘we’re not at the finish line just yet.’ ”
She said she didn’t know any of the other passengers on the jet.
Only a few hours after they departed, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh was hit, Gaither said. A drone attack on the U.S. Embassy caused a “limited fire,” according to The Associated Press.
The members of the group parted ways when they landed in Athens. However, Bruesewitz continued to arrange transportation for other Americans who were stuck in Doha, Gaither said. She returned to Dallas later that day on another flight she said Bruesewitz paid for.
“Alex truly got me home safely and I owe it all to him,” she said.
As of Friday, about 27,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. since the war began, according to AP. Many U.S. citizens remain in Doha and the Middle East as the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Qatar remains closed, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24.
Gaither said she was happy to return to her family and her dogs. The day after she got back, she immediately went to back to work as a dog walker. Throughout her time in Doha and her journey back, she said many of the families she worked with contacted her and were happy to see she was safe.
Sarah Gaither, 27, smiles while hugging a dog in Dallas. Gaither’s flight back home to Dallas from Doha, Qatar was turned around due to the unsafe airspace traffic as the United U.S., Israel and Iran launched deadly missile strikes in the Middle East on Saturday, March. 1, 2026.
Sarah Gaither / Sarah Gaither