WESLACO – A mother from Louisiana is desperate in her search for her missing son. He disappeared after crossing the border illegally with a human smuggler.

Mary Gomez said waiting to know what happened to her child is agonizing. For the past 10 days, she’s been waiting to have her son home.

Now, with a weary and sorrowful voice, she told CHANNEL 5 NEWS she even had to go to the doctor.

"They brought me to the doctor to calm my nerves," she said.

Gomez came from Mexico City to the U.S. when her son, now 18-year-old Waldo Plaza Gomez, was a child.

"I came and left my son of six years old with my parents,” she explained. "We had two children and the situation in the house wasn't good. My father would beat me constantly. I finally gathered enough money to bring him over."

Gomez said a smuggler crossed the teen into Brownsville about two weeks ago. A three-day journey through the South Texas brush followed.

Halfway through, Gomez said her son’s health declined. She said the smugglers waited a whole day to tell his mom what they decided to do.

"The smuggler says that he became a bit sick. That he started getting asthma and was tired. He asked the guide to wait for him, but he didn't want to and left him behind," she recalled.

Gomez said they sent her a map of where he could be found and said nothing else. She reached out for help.

Eddie Canales with the South Texas Human Rights network said his group and others are working to locate the young man. He said the site came up empty and are asking for more details.

"Please, if the smugglers see this video, have mercy on me. My son is a good person," the mother said tearfully.

Gomez said she sends a message to other parents considering crossing the border illegally.

"Don't do it. They're safer at home. The pain is too great and too immense," she advised.

Instead of a reunion, all that's left for Gomez is more waiting.

"I know that he's okay. And if he hears me, I want to tell him that I love him. I know that God will bring him to me,” she said.

Gomez said her son is also a young father and husband. She reached out to Border Patrol and the Mexican Consulate for help.

To report a missing migrant, relatives are encouraged to call 911. Report the incident with as much information as available to help locate the missing person.