This story is a part of Babble’s #7DaysofGoodness series, where we’re gathering feel-good stories to help bring a smile to your day. Find them all here.
***
Marc Carter’s 14-year-old son Ben has autism, and since he was 2 years old he has refused to drink out of anything but one specific sippy cup.
“Ben hasn’t drunk at school since the age of 5, he doesn’t drink outside of the house so we can’t go anywhere,” Marc explained in a Twitter post. “People say he will drink when he’s thirsty, but two emergency trip to [the ER] with severe dehydration say otherwise.”
Reward for cup like this! Son has severe #autism & would rather go to A&E dehydrated than use ANY other cup – colour shape etc PLEASE SHARE pic.twitter.com/iglWs9IKA9
— Grumpy Carer (@GrumpyCarer) November 14, 2016
The Tommy Tippee cup has been discontinued for years, and while they’ve replaced the cup once before, the current cup is starting to fall apart. That’s when Marc turned to Twitter to see if anyone still had this exact cup.
And Twitter users across the world banded together to help him. In just two days, Marc’s post gained over 17K retweets and 5.2K likes, with everyone trying to find the cups for him. The hashtag #CupForBen spread worldwide in multiple languages. Tommee Tippee even got in on the search, too, looking through their stocks of samples to see if they have any left. The #CupForBen responses even became too much for Marc, so Tommee Tippee offered to take over the hashtag to help give Marc some relief.
Hello @GrumpyCarer we have a dedicated team at Tommee Tippee Towers searching the cupboards for Ben's cup! #FingersCrossed #CupForBen
— tommee tippee UK (@tommeetippee_UK) November 15, 2016
We're giving @GrumpyCarer a break from Twitter today!! If you think you have a #CupForBen, please send us a Direct Message!
— tommee tippee UK (@tommeetippee_UK) November 16, 2016
Amazingly, in less than two days, the Twitter-verse found multiple perfect cups!
@GrumpyCarer we have one you are welcome to!
— Ashley Balloch (@AshleyBalloch) November 16, 2016
@GrumpyCarer @tommeetippee_UK I'm sending my daughters old one to you later today via Tommee Tippee 😀 Best wishes to you all 🙂 #CupForBen
— Claire Lees (@nonesopretty) November 16, 2016
In Marc’s latest update, he couldn’t be more thankful for the outpouring of love from everyone who has searched for the cups. He says they have enough cups to last them a few years now, but they’ll always need more. “The reality is Ben is unlikely to change, so I will need these for the rest of his life,” he wrote on Twitter. “That’s a lot of cups.”
My BIG #CupForBen UPDATE – please share for me! pic.twitter.com/D7F12fMIFl
— Grumpy Carer (@GrumpyCarer) November 15, 2016
It’s acts of kindness like this that remind us of the goodness of mankind, and how much we can achieve when we work together — not apart. If you happen to have one of these exact cups in the back of your cupboard, contact Marc using @PMPProject and #CupForBen. Or share the posts on Twitter to keep the search going.
h/t: Mashable