Vikings safety Cam Bynum is slowly becoming a household name.

His performance on Monday Night Football was something out of a movie as Bynum intercepted a pair of passes to help lead the Vikings to a 22-17 upset victory over the San Francisco 49ers in primetime.

The most meaningful part for Bynum, however, came after the final whistle. He conducted a postgame interview with NFL Network, and in a poignant moment, shared that his wife Lalaine is stuck in the Philippines. The couple is forced to live apart at the moment because they haven’t been able to obtain the paperwork needed for her to come to the U.S.

The exposure on national television got the message out. The following morning Bynum took to social media to continue the conversation. He posted on the app formerly known as Twitter, asking for help from anybody with connections to get a spousal visa approved in short order.

“We’re getting a lot of traction,” Bynum said Wednesday at TCO Performance Center. “I think it’s moving in the right direction.”

In the 48 hours since the Vikings beat the 49ers, Bynum and his legal team have reached out to both U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Senator Tina Smith, hoping they can somehow help expedite the process.

“We’ve been trying to get the tourist visa for over a year,” Bynum said while noting that twice they have been denied for that. “Then we got married in March, so we filed for the spousal visa.”

In the meantime, all the Bynums can do is wait, with more than 7,500 miles separating them from each other. They stay connected via FaceTime despite the 13-hour time difference and take solace in the fact that they will be able to see each other in about a month when the Vikings are on their bye week.

“I miss her like crazy,” Bynum said. “It never gets easier.”

It’s now been a few months since he has seen his wife in person. After spending most of the offseason in the Philippines, and putting on the first edition of his football camp, Bynum returned stateside over the summer with the Vikings about to start training camp. He has gone on to become an unquestioned starter on the Vikings’ defense.

All the while his wife Lalaine has followed his rise from afar. Though she hasn’t yet seen a game in person, she has watched every single game the Vikings have played so far.

“At first we had to do the little streaming website with all the pop-ups,” Bynum said with a laugh. “We finally found a good app. She can watch it and it doesn’t get laggy or anything. She’s enjoying it and learning football and having a lot of her friends and all of our people out there learn football, too, because football is not that big yet in the Philippines.”

The ultimate goal for Bynum is that he and his wife are able to live together in Minnesota during the football season, then live back in the Philippines during the offseason. The fact that his success has provided him the platform to share his story with a larger audience isn’t lost on him. Now he’s hoping something good can come from it.

“Just being patient,” Bynum said. “I’m super grateful for everybody willing to help.”

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