- 3-year-old Lucas, who needed to travel for life-saving treatment, and reddit donations allowed his family to join him; he is now 5 years old, and his family shares a heartfelt thanks.
- The Kenyan orphans protected from attack by Anthony Omari in January 2012; the post led to more than $80,000 in donations to the Faraja Children’s home and changed the lives of the orphans living there.
- Most recently, “SEND PIZZA” – a plea shared in the hospital window of a 2-year-old cancer patient – not only inspired reddit to send pizzas for the entire hospital ward, but also gave hope to her family and other families of kids with cancer.
For Lucas, the 3 year old with a rare disease (Hyper IGM Syndrome) who needed a bone marrow transplant in 2011, reddit banded together to donate over $50,000, so his family could move to the city where he needed to receive treatment. Lucas’ dad was so touched by the generosity he experienced that he got a reddit tattoo of a snoo with a heart on its chest.
Today, thanks to that treatment, Lucas is now 5 years old. Lucas’ father Luis shared how the response from /r/assistance affected their lives:
Today, thanks to that treatment, Lucas is now 5 years old. Lucas’ father Luis shared how the response from /r/assistance affected their lives:
In the days and weeks around reddit’s outpouring of support, we were obviously overwhelmed. There is no life experience that prepares you for that kind of event… Perhaps just as important as those few weeks at the end of 2011 are the months that followed..... We received a steady stream of care packages, cards, PM’s and emails while we were in the hospital... There are still constant reminders, and they help us remember the kindness and generosity we want Lucas and Liam to learn as they grow up.
On March 14th we celebrated Lucas’ one year transplant anniversary and backpackwayne helped us (as always) spread the word on reddit so everyone could see how well Lucas was doing. While his progress has been slightly behind the original projections, he’s still doing very well… we have no reason to believe he won’t make a full recovery and lead a normal life.
Personally, the one thing that has been surprisingly better than expected in all of this is my Snoo tattoo. Every time someone notices it, I get to share the whole inspirational story all over again.
+&+Lucas+(R).jpg) |
| Liam and Lucas |
David, a close friend of Lucas’ family, shared his thoughts on the experience:
reddit has power. The power of millions of people coming together to change lives in meaningful ways. When my now fiancee's sister and husband realized their son, Lucas, had a rare disease and needed a bone marrow transplant, things were looking rough… We took photos of Lucas telling his story and posted it to r/assistance. The reaction started slow, with supporters donating $5 here, $10 there... but the magic of Reddit soon began to happen... We were receiving an amazing outpouring of love in our thread from other redditors: tales of support, hardship, sympathy, and hope…. Our lives and perspectives were forever changed by the kindness, generosity, and love shown by strangers on this website. We remain in shock and awe of the power of reddit to this day.
We cannot thank each of you enough for what you've done for our family, but there are other families just like ours that need your help too. Please embrace the redditor spirit and sign up to be a bone marrow donor - you could change the life of someone just like Lucas! http://www.bethematch.org and The Immune Deficiency Foundation.
In January 2012, a redditor shared the story of Anthony Omari, who was attacked with a machete while single-handedly defending a Kenyan orphanage.
The OP originally posted asking for $2,000 to finish the fence to keep the orphanage safe, but thanks to the community, they were able to go above and beyond. They had this to share:
The OP originally posted asking for $2,000 to finish the fence to keep the orphanage safe, but thanks to the community, they were able to go above and beyond. They had this to share:
When I originally posted the photo of Omari with a small appeal for help back in January, 2012, I had no idea what to expect from reddit—certainly not the incredible outpouring of support and encouragement we received from the reddit community. In less than one week more than 3,000 people from dozens of countries across the world donated over $80,000 to Faraja Children’s Home in Kenya, essentially saving the orphanage from closing and giving the children a safer home and more hopeful future. If you didn’t see the 1-year update about how some of the money was spent, check it out! We are currently trying to find sponsors for all 37 children at Faraja to ensure they will be able to continue their education past the age of 13 (when Kenya’s free public education ends).
All of us at the Longonot Education Initiative and Faraja Children’s Home cannot thank the reddit community enough for your kindness, generosity and the support you gave Omari, his family, and the Faraja children in their time of need. We are all so grateful. Thanks for being so awesome!
Finally, just a few weeks ago on reddit, a 2 year old girl undergoing cancer treatment made a wish for a pizza party that became a “global pizza reddit signal.” In her mom Lauren’s words:
These are only three of the altruistic acts, big and small, that redditors do every day. From volunteering to donate kidneys to helping those in need buy a hearing aid to supporting a teacher who sheltered her students during a tornado to randomly gifting another reddit user a new monitor to filling a teacher’s empty bookshelves, we know there are countless stories about redditors out there making the world a better place.
We’re really proud to be a part of this community, and can’t wait to see the amazing things that you all do in the future. We hope you continue to share your and others’ stories of redditors making the world a better place, starting here in the comments with stories we weren’t able to update, and in future posts. We’d love to hear them.
P.S. If you know any teachers that need help getting classroom supplies, we have more volunteers to donate to teachers than teachers who have signed up for our teacher gift exchange, now accepting signups through September 3rd. Send the teachers in your life this link!
Ever since the "Pizza Bonanza" (that's what we have been calling it!) has happened to our family, we continue, each day, to be extremely humbled and left speechless by the outpouring of support from complete and total strangers. Even now I struggle to put into words the effect it has had on our family. Not only did we have well over 20 pizzas delivered in honor of my little girl's struggle, but someone was kind enough to include links, on the original Reddit post, to our Facebook page, Hope For Hazel; our blog; and our donation page. Because of the thoughtfulness of this individual, we have close to 10,000 likes on the Facebook page, I had nearly 70,000 hits on my blog for several days straight and so far have received over $13,000 in donations!
…To know that so many people have cared enough to take the extra steps to read about my daughter, and the fight that she is enduring, has been nothing less than extraordinary. People from around the globe continue to send well wishes, prayers, letters and packages to Hazel, and personal stories of struggle and triumph that all encourage me in ways that they may never understand…
Another wonderful thing that has happened is that I have been able to use this marvelous and uplifting story as a platform to raise awareness for childhood cancer… Now, I can point people in a direction to learn more and to support a community of families who desperately need our help!
I urge you to learn more about childhood cancer from sites like www.thetruth365.org, www.curesearch.org, www.cookiesforkidscancer.org, www.stbaldricks.org and www.alexslemonade.org
We’re really proud to be a part of this community, and can’t wait to see the amazing things that you all do in the future. We hope you continue to share your and others’ stories of redditors making the world a better place, starting here in the comments with stories we weren’t able to update, and in future posts. We’d love to hear them.
P.S. If you know any teachers that need help getting classroom supplies, we have more volunteers to donate to teachers than teachers who have signed up for our teacher gift exchange, now accepting signups through September 3rd. Send the teachers in your life this link!
