‘I need to bring my son home’: The search for Jesse Galganov missing in Peru continues

The desperate search for Jesse Galganov continues.

The 22-year-old Montrealer went missing while hiking the Cordillera Blanca range in the Peruvian Andes two months ago.

His mother, Alisa Clamen, last heard from her son on Sept. 28, when he texted her to say he was planning to do the Santa Cruz Trek and would probably be unreachable for a few days.

Three weeks went by without any news, so the family headed to Peru in search of answers, even hiring a crisis management team to assist.

READ MORE: Montreal mother desperately searching for son in Peru

Despite hard work by Peruvian authorities, Clamen said resources were limited and they weren’t getting results.

That is when the family decided to hire Magnus International — an Israeli company specializing in search-and-rescue missions in remote locations.

“We needed a company that could do a very a complex and detailed analysis and really plot through the routes and say ‘OK, where was he, where could he have gone, what could have happened,'” Clamen said.

Clamen credits the group with locating two Frenchmen who camped with Galganov on Sept. 30.

“Up until that point we didn’t even know that he was on the trek,” Clamen said. “We had investigations going on in so many different places. Now we’re focused on that one area.”

The Frenchmen said Galganov had seemed disoriented on the night of the Sept. 30, perhaps due to altitude, but seemed better the next day when they set off in separate directions. They also indicated that Galganov seemed well-equipped.

READ MORE: Amazon, Apple release data after Montreal mother’s desperate pleas, search for son in Peru

While the information has allowed a narrowing of the search area, Clamen realizes anything might have happened.

“The possibilities are all there,” she said. “Maybe he continued on and got out and got lost, maybe he had an accident on the trek, but they need to follow each path in very, very difficult terrain.”

And the cost of those searches is quickly adding up.

“The cost is staggering,” Clamen said, adding that the tally so far, was close to $1 million.

The family has raised over $400,000 to help cover the costs through a Go Fund Me campaign and The Missing Children’s Network.

Clamen said the support they’ve received from the community has been overwhelming.

“The community has been amazing,” she said, “The support that we have gotten is just extraordinary.”

Clamen is heartbroken over her son’s disappearance, but finding him is what keeps her going.

“My heart is broken. Jesse is my life. He is not just my son, he is my best friend,” she said. “I’m just trying to survive because I know that I need to do this. I need to find him, I need to make sure these searches go, so I am just taking it hour by hour and day by day, and praying and wishing and working and surviving.”

“I need to bring my son home, no matter what, I can not leave my son in Peru. He has to come home.”