Some of Earth’s mightiest heroes show they can be heroic even without their costumes.
Wait. Get your head out of the gutter! This is not about naked superheroes! This is going to be sappy.
If you are like many people and consume your news based on what your homepage thinks you should know, then you probably get stuck looking at a nearly endless stream of death, violence, and scandal. It seems that no matter how many positive stories I click on, whatever algorithm is at play manages to refill my home page with misery.
Who knew Deadpool had such a big ... heart?
Because I am a huge movie fan who loves Marvel and Star Wars, you would think the algorithm would inundate me with non-stop geektastic moment after moment. But it doesn't. Instead of fun geeky content, I get 200 stories about the Hollywood scandal a la mode. And it seems that these stories never end. Every day, reporters dig and dig in order to have a new layer of yuck to add on top of yesterday's layer of ick.
I get it. It is important that we know these things are happening. You can't stop cancer if you don't know it exists. But every once in a while, I want to hear about something good that is happening.
Earlier this week, I did.
Buried in my home page, I saw this:
It was a sappy geek's dream come true!
It seems a 17 year old young man in Australia named Josh Rigby has been bravely battling leukemia since he was 5 years old. Two years ago, his family learned that he had tumors caused by glioblastoma. People typically only live 12 to 18 moths with this condition. So when he was 15, this family learned that they needed to start saying goodbye to their son. I can't imagine the pain.
BraveheartJosh, as he is known on twitter (and probably everywhere in "real" life) is not giving up. But it is a tough fight. Sometimes fighting takes a bit of encouragement. As a result, Josh's mom Donna turned to some of Josh's on-screen heroes.
Many answered the call.
Lead by "Uncle Deadpool" himself (Ryan Reynolds), several Marvel stars reached out to offer words of encouragement and support for a teenager they had never met. Chris Evans, John Holland, Chris Pratt and Hugh Jackman all took a quick moment to make this kid's day... and his mom's.
Did their messages cure Josh?
No.
But they offered something I am sure this family desperately needs. A happy story.
Not only do they have these messages to take their mind off their daily struggle for a few minutes, Josh's mom will always know that when her son needed a boost, she did what she could to give it to him. And some far less powerful and less important super heroes helped her out.
That is what moms do. Not all moms in this situation succeed in getting a bunch of celebrities to contact their children, but I guarantee that they find ways to provide their kids' boosts in other ways. That is what heroes do.
Moms. Are. Heroes.
There are not enough hours in the day for these celebrities to answer the call for every family in need... but that does not diminish this one bit. They were true heroes for providing this boost for a family in need. I just wish reporters would keep reporting on this story for the next two weeks.
And now without any further ado, grab some tissue and check out what these heroes had to say:
Great! As if my wife wasn't already hot enough for all of these guys... now they go and do something this incredibly nice. I bet they are all great dads.
There lots of heroes in my life like my family and you are included in it @hanshotfirst because I remember you donated for my cause while I am just early joined this platform basically reaching out with both arms hoping somebody would notice my pleadings and you are one of those that offered help together with other steemians.
And you continually are helping me so God bless you and keep you.
This world may not be for me but it is still a beautiful life, only hard as the f- word.
You are by far the Mightiest Steemian! I am in awe of your strength.
In the most cry-y emotional month of my life and you hit me with this post right before bed? Excuse me while I get some tissue and maybe some ice cream and stay up crying about how great people are for the next half hour.
And yes, they do seem like 'great dads'. XD
You're welcome. ;)
I did warn you it was going to be sappy. You should have heard me sniffling while I was writing this. My daughter would call it happy crying. My buddies would call it being a wuss.
Enjoy the ice cream!
We need more stories like this in front of everyone to remind people that the world we live in is better than we believe at times. That was super nice of those guys to take the time to respond to that mother. I can only imagine what it must be like day to day to be in that family's shoes. Hopefully this gives them something to smile about when times get tough. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading! Yeah I saw it and was blown away. It was a very simple gesture that was incredibly powerful.
Very true! Heroes are those who put others above themselves, are brave and assist the greater good. No superpowers needed.
Love this - love it when people who has an impact on childrens' and others' lives do good and not just take the fame for granted
Exactly! With great power comes great responsibility. These guys are using their fame very well!
i like to read this post Imagine the impact on the kid for what they've done, this gesture will keep his hopes up and will continue fighting his sickness. god bless you @hanshotfirst
Exactly! Raising someone's spirits matters.
yes you absolutely right
Not all celebrities are assholes. It cant be easy to deal with the amount of attention that they get on a daily basis and always have to be careful what they say and do so I can see why a lot of them would be very guarded.
That's why it's nice to see news like this when they do show their human side. All of them are people too with families and I'm sure they can feel the pain of a situation like this. It's nice to see them do something that will help the child in whatever small way it does.
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I agree 100%. I think there is a lot more of this type of stuff going on but it just doesn't make the news. I am sure many celebrities do things like this privately with little fanfare. This one just happened to lend itself to going viral but I think it is good for people to see this.
I would say that the majority of them are involved in different causes and I'm sure that they do reach out to some of the fans whos stories reach them.
It's always nice to see acts of kindness like this whether it's a celebrity or not. The world can be a shit enough place especially if your sick like this so anything that can make a difference can only be a good thing. Even if it only helps them forget the pain for an hour isn't that worth the effort.
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excelente deadpoll es lo mejor y Ryan Reynolds en su mejor papel y su mejor momento
Stories like this can definitely help with the deluge of stories about bad things.
Awww...that is so sweet. I especially love acts of kindness from prominent figures because it shows they want to make a difference with the influence they have. Thank you @hanshotfirst for sharing this, it's so heartwarming. Way to go, the superheroes who are real superheroes! :)