The heartwarming moment the internet reunites a woman with her dying mother
Reddit is an internet forum where people are able to post questions and reply anonymously via a username.
Here is where beautiful things happen.
Alex West replied to a Reddit thread where people were asked to share a personal story.
Many were quick to reply, detailing their lives and deep personal secrets that they felt like they couldn’t share with anyone else.
Alex shared her story, revealing that her mother, Barbara “Bobbi” West was suffering from renal cancer and was in her final days. However, Alex was unable to go see her as she couldn’t afford it.
“My mum is dying in hospice care and I feel guilty every day I’m not sitting there by her side,” West explained on the thread.
“But I have $1.32 in my account and can’t afford to be with her (I live 13 hours away).”
Alex also explained that she was unable to hear her mother’s voice and talk to her on the phone as there was no phone in Barbara’s hospice room. Due to her condition, Barbara is unable to leave her bed to reach a phone in a wheelchair.
“So I’m kind of just waiting around for the phone call and get a sinking feeling in my heart whenever my phone rings,” Alex added.
Fellow forum users, or Redditors, left messages of support on Alex’s post, with some offering to help out with money to pay for her flight to see her mother.
The flight and dates just happened to coincide with Mother’s Day.
Due to the overwhelming generosity of strangers, Alex received $1,325 USD from users, and she was able to book a flight from Colorado, where she lives, to St. Louis in Missouri to visit her mother.
The money was also used to cover the cost of a rental car, hotel and food.
Alex spoke about the generosity to Forbes.
"I think this says a lot about the kindness and the humanity in the reddit community,” she explained. “Yes, there will always be negative people.
"But the good far outweighs the bad and without this platform, I wouldn't have been able to be reunited with my mother before she passed.
“I am forever grateful to this community and it will always have a special place in my heart."