A boy in the U.K. received the greatest 11th birthday surprise he could have imagined. Ben’s mother, Lisa Jackon, wanted to do something extraordinary for his birthday. The previous year no one showed up to her son’s party, and she wanted to ensure this year went much better.
“My other birthday was awful – this one is a big improvement,” Ben said.
Lisa asked people to send people cards to Ben for his birthday. She created a Facebook group called Ben’s 11th Birthday Bonanza #BensBirthdayEver and shared the unfortunate story of his past birthday party.
Lisa wrote in her Facebook post, “This is Ben, my son, he is 10 and has high functioning autism. He has a heart of gold and just wants to be friends with people but his autism makes it extremely difficult for him to achieve this.”
Lisa continued the post explaining Ben’s past birthday party disaster, “On a previous birthday I hosted a birthday party for him, inviting around 25 children. He was so excited and looking forward to it.
The birthday party did not go as planned, “Only two parents replied to the invitations I sent out but the party was arranged and paid for, and Ben was so excited about it so there was no way I could cancel it, I wrongly presumed that a few more would just turn up on the day, but at least two were coming which was better than at all,” Lisa said in her Facebook post.
The response she got was very unexpected. Ben received over ten-thousand birthday cards. He said this is one birthday he will never forget.
Trolleys were set up at Portsmouth sorting office for the many birthday cards. It was quite a sight to see so many cards for one young boy. Lisa was shocked by the support she received and never expected such a high response.
“I never expected to get such an overwhelming response to my post and am so grateful to you all,” Lisa said.
Birthday wishes arrived from all over the world. There were cards from India, Singapore, Australia and South Africa.
Royal Mail’s Portsmouth confirmed tens of thousands of cards were addressed to Ben. “We’ve never had anything like it before. It’s been brilliant to be part of it,” said Delivery Office Manager Justin Brown.
Lisa and Ben have received such a high response from social media. Many people shared pictures of themselves dropping their birthday cards in the mail. One individual went above and beyond Lisa’s birthday card request. The supporter raised money and gave Ben a new iPad.
Ben’s story shows the magic that social media can provide. When people support one another, amazing things can happen. Ben will never forget his 11th birthday.
Source: BBC
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