An amazing thing happened when this picture was sent to the wrong number. Photo / Twitter
An amazing thing happened when this picture was sent to the wrong number. Photo / Twitter
It's something many of us have done in a change room — snapped a picture of ourselves in an item of clothing to send to a friend or family member to get their opinion.
When a girl named Syd did just this and sent a photo of herself in a formal dress to the incorrect number, she had no clue it would have such a ripple effect.
Instead of landing in her friend's inbox, the photos were received by Tony Wood, a real estate agent and father of six from Tennessee, USA.
The photos that were sent to the wrong number. Photo / Twitter
Instead of shooting back the standard "wrong number" text, he decided to have a bit of fun with it, and got his children to deliver their verdict on the dress.
The post has since been retweeted 172,000 times and has 690,000 likes.
When asked about the exchange, Tony told Bored Panda "I figured that the children's response would accomplish that substantially better than some middle-aged overweight bald guy!"
But the story doesn't end there. Tony's random act of kindness had a flow-on effect.
The viral Tweet brought attention to the family's Facebook page, and people discovered that missing from the photo of the kids was 4-year-old Kaizler.
It turns out that when the photo was taken, Kaizler was in hospital with his mum, undergoing chemotherapy to treat his leukaemia. Something that Tony confirmed when he responded to Mandi's Tweet.
Hello! Apparently you have made my children Twitter famous! My 2nd youngest (not pictured, he was at chemo clinic) has a FB page for his fight against Leukemia and one of our Prayer Warriors recognized the children! Btw, my wife agreed that the dress looked great! God Bless!
It was then discovered that a friend set up a GoFundMe page over two years ago to help the Wood family fund the little boy's treatment.
People touched by Tony's kind response to Syd's accidental text message jumped on the GoFundMe page to donate money. It has now raised more than $11,900 for the family and is still climbing.
"I think the internet is going to make sure you guys can focus on what matters! Hope he recovers quickly and fully," wrote one donor.
"Proof that a little act of kindness can reap bigger acts of kindness," wrote another.
On Sunday night, Tony posted a note on Twitter that said "the kindness and generosity of Twitter and other venues saw our gofundme account surpass our goal last night!"
He told Bored Panda "since this all started we've had over $US3,000 ($NZ$4100) donated.
"That's more than we had donated in total over the last two years. It's been amazing and is a bigger blessing than anyone could ever know. We were backed up to a financial wall. I've been working the entire time, but I was slowly but surely succumbing to the financial rigours of the situation."
Tony's wife Rachel also told the website she has been overwhelmed by the reaction.
"It is so refreshing to be reminded that there are good people in the world who still care about others and are quick to be generous and kind to others," she told Bored Panda.
"I would also like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the kind words, all the prayers, all the donations, all the love and support."
