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A Dad Came Up With The Best Way To Cheer Up His Bullied Son

Britni de la Cretaz
June 30, 2017, 6:25 PM
Photo: Getty Images.
When your kid is hurting, you want to do anything you can to make it better. That was true for one father, who took to Twitter to make a request for his son's birthday. The father knew the request was a little odd, but he was wholly unprepared for the way the internet would come through for Ollie on his 9th birthday.
Christopher, who goes by the Twitter handle @Hopenlesmyth, sent a tweet that read, "Anyone know anyone famous/well known who could send Ollie a positive/9th birthday message"? He went on to explain that the reason he was asking was that Ollie was being bullied, and told by another kid that his birthday wouldn't be anywhere as good the other child's had been. So Christopher asked for some help proving the bully wrong.
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When Christopher sent the tweets, he clearly was not sure anyone would respond. But respond they did, with messages of support, happy birthday wishes from around the world, and offers of birthday swag for Ollie. Even British hip hop artist Stormzy sent some love.
Olympian Tom Bosworth wished Ollie a happy birthday, and offered to come meet the boy and bring along some Olympic team Great Britain merch.
Author Tommy Donbavand offered signed copies of his "Scream Street" books.
English television presenter and journalist Jake Humphrey recorded a personal message for Ollie.
Al Murray, an English comedian and TV personality known for his stand-up, sent a note of encouragement.
So did Russell Crowe.
Ollie was also invited to see a soccer match by England's national team.
And here's a message from CBBC children's show host Ben Shires.
After all the love, Ollie's mom felt compelled to respond and thank everyone for their support. "I am completely overwhelmed by everyones kind thoughts. You do not know what this means to me and will to Ollie when we show him," she tweeted. "It is heartbreaking listening to an 8 year old think that he is worthless and 'shouldn't be here'. I know that we are definately [sic] not the only ones in the world to be going through this but I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart 'Thank You' so much."
No word yet on what Ollie thinks of all this, since we have to wait until his birthday on July 5th to find out. We're willing to bet he's going to be pretty excited.
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