Woman Snaps Photo of Sign on Man's Backpack, Hours Later He's Flooded with Texts & Calls
What would you do to sustain the life of someone you love? It’s not exactly a hypothetical question.
For most of us, we get up every morning and go to work to support our families. Yet the importance of that daily struggle becomes a bit more dire when someone is facing a disease with no easy cure.
Brooklyn, New York, resident Raymond Thompson knows that full well. According to CNN, he met his wife, Mylen, in an adorably nerdy way in the year 2000.
They got to know each other in an AOL chat room, connecting over a shared love of professional wrestling. They eventually married and had a daughter.
Then in 2016, Thompson got a horrifying phone call. “She called me at work and said, ‘Babe, you need to come home right now,’” he recalled.
“She said, ‘I can’t feel my right side. It’s numb.’”
Mylen had developed kidney disease and now needs to go on dialysis three days a week. But Thompson wasn’t satisfied to simply let her sit on a donor list.
Inspired by stories like those of Rob Leibowitz, a man who secured an organ transplant by walking around Disney World with a t-shirt that said, “In need of kidney,” he decided to start displaying his wife’s own need. So he attached a simple sign to his backpack.
Here is a photo I took at my Target yesterday and can’t stop thinking about. pic.twitter.com/gbzF47AqCy
— Lilit Marcus (@lilitmarcus) December 22, 2018
It read, “In need of a kidney for my wife, B+, 917-442-6202.” He wears it each and every day in hope that someone would come to his family’s aid.
“He is doing great for his wife,” his mother, Donna Thomspon, said according to CBS New York. “I am praying every night for my daughter-in-law to get through with her kidney and to feel much better to take care of her daughter.”
Well, someone did notice the sign, namely CNN Travel editor Lilit Marcus. While picking up her prescriptions, she saw Thompson at a Target, snapped a picture of him, and shared it on Twitter.
“Unsure what to say, I quickly snapped a photo. And then he was gone,” she later recounted.
The social media response stunned both her and Thompson. Celebrities such as Zach Braff and Evan Rachel Wood began sharing it, too — and Thompson’s phone started to buzz.
“Ever since, it’s been crazy,” he said. “People have been calling, text messages, all day every day and night, so most of my time I’m just there replying.”
While the family is still looking for a kidney, Thompson wants everyone to know that the family won’t be starting a GoFundMe campaign. They have all the money they need and are only looking for a kidney.
“Sickness doesn’t care who you are,” he said. “I appreciate everyone who reaches out. …
“Sign up to be organ donors. There are so many people that actually need organs, especially kidneys.
“You have two and can live a healthy life with just one. Just sign up.”
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