His mum posts Facebook request - and man with Down's Syndrome gets 30,000 birthday cards
It was a simple request on Facebook: Can friends please send a little card to my son who has Down's Syndrome?
The mother didn't expect that her son would end up receiving 30,000 birthday cards from all over the world.
In fact, when Saturday (Nov 22) - Manuel Parisseaux's birthday - arrived, letters were arriving by the truckloads.
The volume was so overwhelming that his family, from Calais in northern France, had to store them in a neighbour's garage.
On November 3, Parisseaux's mother Jacqueline, a childcare worker, told her husband: "We are going all out to celebrate (our son's birthday)."
Then she got the idea to post a message on her husband's Facebook page - hoping that people would take notice.
She wrote: "My son Manuel is going to turn 30 years old on November 22. He has Down's Syndrome.
I'm writing to ask you to take a couple minutes to send him a little card and to pass this information on to your friends so the chain doesn't get broken.
I thank you all for your gesture, which will make my Manu so happy."
Mrs Parisseaux said the request took off.
The cards slowly trickled it but soon hundreds began to arrive.
Manuel's mother said: "It snowballed immediately.
"We had a few hassles with Facebook because our post was shared 120,000 times and they thought we were a business or that we were running a scam."
The response was global
"We got cards from everywhere: Sri Lanka, Chicago, Hong Kong and sometimes with child's drawings," said an emotional Mrs Parisseaux.
On Saturday, the rush of about 3,000 cards pushed the total to 30,000. What's in the mail? Boxes of chocolate, key chains and even cakes.
The family spent their time trying to sort through all the cards and have promised to keep every one of them.
But don't expect a response if you sent a card, says Manuel's mother cheekily.
Source: AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now