Text Sent to Wrong Number Leads to Act of Kindness for Young Boy Fighting To Stay Alive
It’s amazing what a seemingly accidental connection can result in. In many cases, when someone has the wrong number, that’s all they’re told — communication doesn’t go beyond that.
For Abby Fink, a wrong number ended in a wave of blessings that no one could have anticipated.
Fink meant to send a message to the Jakeman family, who is going through a difficult time. According to a GoFundMe page set up for them, their adopted 4-year-old son, Noah, experienced some life-threatening events that landed him in the ICU at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
“A week ago Noah was admitted to the ICU with respiratory failure and placed on life support,” the GoFundMe reads. “His mom Alex is staying by his side until he can leave the ICU. They do not have family that are able to provide child care for their other children so Shaun has had to take time off from work to care them. Since he hasn’t been able to work it is taking a financial toll on the family.”
Fink was planning on bringing the family a meal, but she got one of the digits in the phone number wrong.
“Hey brother Jakeman, this is sister Fink! We are bringing you dinner tomorrow,” she wrote, according to KNXV-TV. “I was wondering what time would be a good time to bring it over?”
The recipient of the text message was a man named Bill who decided to have some fun with the unanticipated message.
“Oooh! What are you bringing me? I’m allergic to seafood,” he responded.
When Fink responded, though, and explained that she was trying to get in touch with a family whose son was gravely ill, he was quick to change his tune.
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
When Fink said he could pray for Noah, Bill responded that he didn’t pray, but he’d be happy to help in other ways. He even posted on Reddit that he’d managed to get a charity involved and rounded up people to donate and lend a hand.
“I’ve gotten in touch with a charity to help him,” Bill wrote. “I’ve gotten people to help with meals and laundry. Now, I’m rallying people to send this kids some love. He’s at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Noah is off the ventilator, so now he can receive gifts as long as they are not flowers or latex balloons.”
“His full story is that is 3 and has cerebral palsy,” Bill continued. “He got sick in the back seat of the car and threw up. Some vomit went into his lungs and they rushed him to the hospital as he couldn’t breathe. He wound up with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. He then wound up with sepsis and blood poisoning.”
“He is finally off of the ventilator but is still on a GI tube so he can better [absorb] his medicine. Because he is off the ventilator, he can receive care packages as long they are not flowers or latex balloons. He loves Harry Potter, Star Wars, Mickey and dinosaurs. He can only see the color red, green, blue and black.”
Fink and the Jakeman family were both shocked at the love and support that came pouring in over a misdialed number. Bill, who has a son of his own, apparently told them it’s “just what people do.”
“We were just really touched and in awe that a perfect stranger, that all he knew was that a little boy was in the ICU and he just wanted to jump into action,” Noah’s mom, Alex, told KNXV-TV.
“I’m thinking to myself, no that’s not what people do because it’s hard to find good people, good genuine people who want to serve and help others,” Fink said.
“I told Bill, ‘I don’t know if you believe in God or not, but I believe you were sent here to help this family.’ I told him he was an angel.”
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