If you could have anything in the world for your birthday, what would you pick? If you found out your were terminally ill and didn’t have that much longer to live, would that change your answer?
Sometimes, we assume that young children want to go over the top when it comes to birthday gifts and parties. But one young teen named Jacob Priestley is proving just how wrong that assumption is.
Jacob, who lives in Arizona, is about to be 15 and he has one simple request for his birthday. The young boy wants to receive 100,000 cards for his big day.
Now, 100,000 cards may seem like a lot, but the reason for them will make you want to go out and buy one yourself. Jacob tragically suffers from a terminally ill condition known as mitochondrial disease, which causes him frequently feel drained as his body is unable to restore energy.
There is no cure for mitochondrial disease, and Jacob’s organs will eventually fail as a result.
Jacob’s mother Britney says that saying her son “hurt and in pain” is one of the worst parts of dealing with his condition. “We have to live each day hour-by-hour because the nature of his disease is so unpredictable.” she said.
The disease has left the 15-year-old boy bedridden, making a memorable birthday party a tough challenge for his mom. She wanted to do something special for her son, so she came up with a plan.
"I knew he loves birthday cards, so I asked some friends and family to send him a card and we got about 200," Britney said. “We surprised him on his birthday and he was so excited!!"
This was for Jacob’s birthday 2 years ago. Because the birthday cards were such a hit, this year, she decided to go even bigger! Jacob’s family created a Facebook campaign to help Jacob get as many birthday cards as possible. Now, on their third year, the family is hoping to reach 100,000 cards.
“The next year we took to Facebook and asked for them again. We set a goal of 10,000 and doubled that! So this year he was asked what his goal is and he said 50k. Well, we knew we could surpass that and so he said let's try for 100,000.” Britney said.
The Facebook campaign took off, and people from all over the world were sending the birthday boy cards. Even celebrities like Matt Damon sent him a card. Last year, Jacob received a birthday card from Barack Obama and Pixar!
“You can’t put it into words how happy I am that these random people will just send me cards.” Jacob said.
Jacob’s birthday is on August 28, and his family is confident that they’ll reach their goal of 100,000 cards. You can follow Jacob’s journey on his Facebook page: “Adventures with Mighty Jake”.
