By Sadie Whitelocks A heartfelt open letter from a mother thanking a 'kind stranger' for entertaining her autistic daughter during a two-and-half-hour flight has been read more than 51,000 times with many deeming it a 'touching' and 'beautiful' story. Shanell Mouland, 36, from New Brunswick, Canada, uploaded a note to her blog Go Team Kate last Thursday detailing how the mystery passenger engaged her three-year-old Kate in conversation instead of ignoring her. 'Thank you for not making me repeat those awful apologetic sentences that I so often say in public,' she wrote. 'Thank you for entertaining Kate so much that she had her most successful plane ride, yet. And, thank you for putting your papers away and playing turtles with our girl.'
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Shanell Mouland, 36, from New Brunswick, Canada, was shocked to find that her message was read more than 51,000 times
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The 'stranger' has since been identified as Eric Kunkel - a businessman from New Jersey
@placeholder was diagnosed with autism in July 2012 after her mother noticed her speech and motor skills were not developing as they should have been