Awesome - When One Woman Texted Her Late Brother's Phone, She Didn't Expect To Get A Reply
When a loved one dies, it can be hard to let go. Many people try to keep a connection, whatever it takes. For some, this can mean visiting a grave, memorializing on social media, or even texting their old phone number. But after Ruth Murray lost her brother in 2019, things became especially weird when she started receiving messages from his phone.
Thick As Thieves
Mike and Ruth Murray grew up together in Minneapolis. As adults, the two remained just as close, that is, until their lives suddenly and tragically changed forever.
Grown Up, Worn Down
Mike’s life took a sour turn. The young man developed a serious drug addiction, and it eventually took his life through a heroin overdose in March 2019.
Barely Coping
For many, moving past a loved one’s death can be extremely daunting. Ruth tried to go through the typical motions of visiting her brother’s grave, but nothing was connecting her back to her “brothaboo.”
Texting a Ghost
As a coping mechanism, Ruth began texting her brother’s old phone number, even though it was no longer in use. Obviously a little crazy, but for Ruth, it was the most comforting thing she could do at the time.
No Expectations
It wasn’t necessarily the case that Ruth was expecting her dead brother to respond. Instead, she did it to continue the tradition of daily texts to keep his memory alive.
Old Habits Die Hard
In an interview with the BBC, Ruth said that she found herself reaching for the phone without thinking, partially out of habit, but also because it was comforting. She definitely wasn’t expecting what happened next.
Surprise Response
Days passed with no response, not that Ruth was expecting one. But then, to her surprise, her phone buzzed. She checked her messages and saw the sender was "brotherboo."
Happening Too Fast
Ruth wasn’t crazy. She knew that her brother was gone for good and assumed his number would be eventually reassigned. She just wasn’t expecting for that to happen so fast! And the person on the other end was definitely not what she expected.
The Woman on the Other End
To Ruth’s surprise, the woman on the other end handled the situation way more gracefully than she could’ve imagined, texting "I'm sorry to here (sic) that you're missing someone, but unfortunately you have the wrong number."
400 Miles Away
As it turns out, the woman who’d been assigned Mike’s old number was Amber Leinweber. She was 32 years old and lived over 400 miles away in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Most people would’ve let the texting go, but both women had something else in mind!
A Vulnerable Moment
Ruth was taken aback by Amber’s reply. Of course she knew she had the wrong number, but she wasn’t expecting the stranger who’d inherited it to be so kind and empathetic!
Shared Experience
Amber wasn’t simply taking pity on Ruth. On the contrary, she had also lost a loved one and grieving. Amber was going through a similar battle on her own.
Sounding Boards
After a couple of exchanges, the two women became each other’s sounding boards! Who knew a text from a stranger could lead to the most surprising case of talk therapy? But, their story continued.
Reddit Friendly
Ruth was so moved that she posted screenshots of their touching exchange on Reddit. Little did she know, the post would blow way up, eventually getting over 80,000 likes!
Network of Support
Similarly to the two women themselves, their fans on Reddit weren’t just cheering them on, they were relating! Through the post, countless others admitted to texting lost loved ones in order to feel closer.
Amber's Ambivalence
Were it not for Amber’s decision to finally respond, Ruth could’ve continued texting to no avail. She wasn’t even trying to connect with Ruth by responding, only to let her know she was mistaken. Good thing she decided to reply!
Connected Through Poker
In a strange twist of fate, Ruth and Amber discovered they had a weird link to one another, and it was through none other than Mike himself. Apparently, he and Amber’s brother used to play online poker together! Finally, Ruth had an idea.
Making the Trip
With all these coincidences and through constant contact, the two grew closer and closer until finally deciding to meet in the flesh. Ruth got in her car and drove 400 miles to meet Amber.
A Blossoming Friendship
Especially after finally connecting in person, the two are officially friends. Ruth learned that Amber had inherited Mike’s number on her work phone, so she shared her personal one instead.
Coincidence or More?
The jury’s still out on why this unlikely bond came to be. Ruth simply said that she wasn’t expecting it, but Amber sincerely believes the universe was trying to bring them together. It could have been fate, as theirs isn't the only friendship formed by a wrong number slip-up.
Text from a Stranger
Tony Wood, a Realtor who lived in Tennessee with his wife and kids, was watching his children at home one afternoon when he received a text message from an unknown number. It was, frankly, a little startling.
Dressing Room Photos
Some random woman sent him two pictures of her posing in a dress in front of a department store mirror. Was this an ex-fling of his trying to rekindle something? The truth was actually a bit more confusing for Tony.
Looking for Feedback
He assumed the woman meant to send the photos to a friend seeking some sort of feedback on how the dress looked. Not wanting to leave her high and dry, he came up with a creative response.
Family Enthusiasm
He asked his kids' opinions of the dress, and it was a resounding, "We love it!" So, Tony snapped a photo of his children giving an enthusiastic thumbs up and sent it to the mystery woman. That would be the end of this, he thought.
Going Viral
And he was right. For awhile. Weeks went by without a response, and he forgot the whole thing happened...until he saw a Tweet by Mandi Miller. In her pinned post, she expressed delight at the message her friend had received after texting a wrong number, referring to the picture of Tony's kids!
Reaching Out
The Twitter user was good friends with Syd, the mystery girl in the dress, so Tony sent a friendly Tweet to Mandi, introducing himself and his children. He didn't go into too much detail about his family, but he did reveal some personal information.
The Missing Son
He had a son named Kaizler, Tony explained, who was out with his wife the day the whole text mix-up occurred, so he wasn't featured in the image. However, the reason Kaizler wasn't home was one that deeply touched Mandi.
A Difficult Time
It all started with devastating news the family received in 2015. Doctors diagnosed Kaizler with leukemia after he was admitted to the hospital for a non-stop fever and extreme fatigue. Kaizler, on the day of text mixup, was at the doctor's office having tests run.
Spreading Positivity
Unknown to Mandi, immediately after Kaizler's diagnosis, Tony and his wife, Rachel, set up a Facebook page called "Prayers for Kaizler." As firm believers in a higher power, they felt the positive energy offered by a simple prayer could do wonders.
Team Kaizler
In an effort to spread the word and earn support, the family made shirts that read "Team Kaizler." Most people who stumbled upon the page wrote kind words of encouragement. Even complete strangers wanted to see the little guy pull through.
Taking Notice
The tweet Mandi Miller posted shortly after the confusion now had almost 200,000 retweets and over half a million likes. This, of course, gave it a lot more attention, and it eventually caught the eye of a Twitter user who went by the name "Illuminaughty."
Chipping in
The user's profile revealed almost nothing about the person behind the name, but in an amazing act of kindness, they tweeted out a link to a GoFundMe page the Wood family started to help with medical expenses. The Tweeter then had a request for the family.
A Big Thumbs-Up
They asked for Tony to send them a picture of Kaizler giving a thumbs-up. So, Tony sent him a picture of his son smiling with both thumbs held high, and Illuminaughty immediately tweeted it out. This was when things really started to get wild.
Flood of Donations
Within hours, Twitter users from all over began circulating the photo of Kaizler. Donations began pouring into his GoFundMe account left and right.
The Mystery Benefactor
In only 24 hours, Kaizler's GoFundMe account more than doubled the total dollar amount the family had collected over the previous two years! Still, no one had any idea who was behind this mysterious Twitter handle.
Blasting Beyond Expectations
The total amount of money the Wood family originally sought was $10,000, but when all was said and done, the total donation amount was over $60,000!
A Brighter Future
Finally, in March 2019, Tony updated the GoFundMe page to joyously announce Kaizler received his very last treatment of chemotherapy!
Belief in Miracles
The unknown Twitter user acted as a sort of Public Relations representative and put Kaizler's story on a level the family never thought they'd reach. This was truly the miracle they needed.
Friend from Other Side of the World
So, who exactly was Illuminaughty? Through some research, Tony concluded he was just a Good Samaritan from India (many of their Twitter posts referenced Indian politics and affairs). Unfortunately, the family knew they'd likely never learn more than that.
Tony and his son, could hardly believe the donations that poured in, but when Alan Trusler of Colville, Washington, tried to use a similar money transfer platform to help his own kid out, he ran into an error that led to some serious repercussions.
Alan was in a predicament when his daughter, Melissa, turned 30. He wanted to buy her a gift that truly showed how special she was, but being far away and maybe a little out of touch with her tastes, made finding the perfect gift stressful.
Alan was fresh out of gift ideas, but he had a thought: why not just give her cash? He decided to transfer money over to his daughter's account so she could purchase something for herself. That way, he was sure she'd get exactly what she wanted!
Melissa lived in Seattle, and she just happened to need a new couch. And wouldn't you know it, she'd found the perfect one! It was a sectional that came complete with USB ports. Alan thought some money would come in handy.
Since Melissa no longer lived at home, Alan thought it would be best to just transfer the money to his daughter's PayPal account via her phone number. But it wasn't long before he realized he'd made a huge mistake...
Almost immediately after he clicked "send," Alan started to feel odd, as if he'd somehow screwed up this simple transaction. Once he looked into it, he realized that he'd made a grievous error.
After calling Melissa to check, Alan confirmed that she'd never received his money. His worst suspicions were confirmed: he sent it to the wrong person! He began to wonder if they would ever see that $1,200 again.
Melissa and Alan looked for ways to get the money back, but they quickly hit a wall. While reading the frequently asked questions section on PayPal's website, Melissa learned that the issue would have to be resolved by her and the recipient. What was the likelihood of that happening?
That was when reality really began to set in: there was no chance they'd get that money back. Then, just a matter of moments later, Alan received a notification on his phone from someone he'd never met...
It was 28-year-old Gerrell McAllister from Tacoma, Washington, who awoke to a strange message in his inbox. The subject line read "You've got money!" When he opened it, lo and behold, $1,200 had been deposited into his bank account.
"You know how in the movies the person will open the briefcase, discover it's full of money and then quickly shut it and look around to make sure no one was watching?" he explained of the deposit. "Yeah, I definitely did that, and I was definitely alone when it happened."
Of course, that was the money Alan had intended to send to Melissa. As it so happened, the error occurred when Alan transferred it to his daughter's new mobile number, which used to belong to Gerrell and was still connected to his PayPal account.
Unlike most people, it took him almost no time to decide to contact the sender. When Alan and Melissa read Gerrell's message, they were completely stunned: not 30 minutes after the initial mistake, Gerrell had returned the money! Not only that, but he had a special message for them...
"If you could tell your family and friends that a low income 28-year-old black man from Tacoma, with a five-year-old daughter, returned your money, I would find that helpful in improving race relations while reaffirming the dope a** culture we as Western Washingtonians have worked so hard to cultivate," Gerrell wrote.
"That, in turn, would help me to stop kicking myself in the a** for remaining morally sound through the tough times my family and I are experiencing at the moment, lol," Gerrell's message continued. "In short, share the story, spread the love. Thank you."
What Melissa didn't know was that, not only was Gerrell struggling financially, but he had also recently lost his mother after she suffered from a pulmonary embolism. To that point, it was also his late mother's advice that had inspired him to return the money.
"My mom taught me better than to take what isn't rightfully mine. She taught me to always try my best to do the right thing even if no one's watching… a little thing called integrity," he explained of his reasoning behind returning the $1,200.
Melissa was so taken aback by Gerrell's random act of kindness that she decided to write about in on both Facebook and Reddit. But that wasn't all. She also included his PayPal info, in case anyone could help him out.
Inspired by his kind gesture, people began donating to the young father! "I guarantee you he's received more money now than he would have if he kept the money," Melissa said. "I think people are overwhelmed by his goodness. You just don't expect a stranger to send the money back."
Gerrell, meanwhile, couldn't believe the outpouring of support. The donations were coming in at a rapid pace, as were the friendly comments from strangers. Best of all, his daughter was inspired. "She thinks it's great. She loves the fact that I'm as caring as she is, because she's super caring," he said.
No one ever could've expected a complete stranger to just return $1,200 to someone, but Gerrell proved that sometimes strangers are more kind than you'd expect. Not only that, but he proved that paying it forward can really, well... pay off!
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