A couple summers ago, I attended a summer program at Yale. I met a bunch of the most awesome, amazing, brilliant people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.
Among them was a guy from Maryland (let’s call him N), and a guy from California (Let’s call him C).
After the program finished and we all went home, we all got a Facebook inbox in October 2010 from C. N had been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone/soft tissue cancer. We all wrote notes of encouragement and sent postcards from around the world to support N while he was going through cancer treatment.
Throughout his treatment, N kept his (and our) spirits high, posting jokes on Facebook. I found myself looking forward to N’s daily statuses every morning. At Yale, N was always the joker, keeping us entertained throughout the high-stress program.
Then, in June 2011, on top of having to continue fighting cancer, N’s father died in a motorcycle accident. I sent flowers and a note of condolence, and tried to deal with what was going on. Why should anyone have to go through so much tragedy?
Later in 2011, a huge wave of relief swept over me as N announced on Facebook that he was officially cancer free. It was amazing. I had never seen that many likes on a single Facebook status in my life. We could finally breathe a collective sigh of relief, as us Yalies realized that we wouldn’t be losing anyone.
Then, in January this year, we found out that the cancer was back. And this time, it was terminal. After careful consideration with a panel of doctors, N decided to stop treatment in order to maximise his quality of life and to enjoy it before the cancer would make that impossible. I think that he made the best decision given the circumstances, and I want to help him enjoy the coming days as much as I can.
So imagine my surprise when I open reddit, and the second post on the front page (this link) is by a guy trying to help his friend with terminal cancer. As I read the post, I thought, “Hey, N’s case is pretty similar to this!”
Then, it hit me. This was about N. I messaged the OP to make sure, and I started sending the link to my friends, asking for upvotes and ideas. I knew it was a long shot, but if we could do it it would be amazing.
After only 4 hours and 1346 upvotes, someone on Reddit managed to call their editor, get an advance copy of an unpublished book, and get it in the mail to C. I was absolutely speechless. I had no idea anything like this was remotely possible, much less in this short timespan.
Reddit, I love you, and thank you for making my day, C’s day and N’s day.
