We recently shared the heartbreaking story of dad Bob Cornelius, who wrote a powerful open letter about his 11-year old son Christopher after discovering he had no friends.
In the piece he spoke about a project his son – who is on the autism spectrum – did for school. The project was a simple question and answer exercise, where he filled in details like name, family members and what they would like to be when they grew up. But one question in particular caught Bob’s eye. It said, “Some of my friends are…” But heartbreakingly, Christopher replied, “No one.”
This prompted his dad to plead to parents to teach their children about the importance of including kids who are ‘different’, via the open letter he posted on his Facebook page.
The letter had a huge response, and quickly went viral all around the world, with people getting in touch with Bob to share their own stories as well as messages of support. But what Bob wasn’t expecting was the huge onslaught of private message from people who wanted his address so they could send a card or a gift to his son.
Soon Christopher’s mailbox was jammers with cards, letters and presents. Even the local fire station dropped in some cool goodies like a hat and a jumper!
“All this attention is a little surreal,” the delighted dad wrote on Facebook. “The messages are in the thousands at this point. I’d like to thank everyone for sharing their stories with me and my family. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness, your grace, and your kindness.”
We love this development. Not only is Bob changing perceptions with his post, the reaction to it is proof that the world is full of amazing people.
And we can only imagine what this will do to Christopher’s self-esteem! We’re sure he is one happy chappie after making so many new friends.
