How Facebook helped save this man’s life

A 28-year-old man from Pittsburgh has a new hero fighting in his corner: Facebook.

Chris Thomas is an Army veteran suffering from limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, reports the Huffington Post. When he fell from his wheelchair, he sent out an incoherent message to Facebook that ultimately saved his life.

He was trying to get to the bathroom when his wheelchair got caught on a tall box outside of his bedroom. Through an unfortunate domino effect, a shelf in the box landed on his legs and tipped the wheelchair over.

“I screamed for help a few times,” Thomas said, “but I live at the end of the hall [in an assisted living facility for the elderly and disabled] and couldn’t quite reach my string to hit my alarm for the guard.”

The next hour was a blur, with Thomas slipping in and out of consciousness.

Although getting back into his chair was out of the question, there was one option in reach: his smartphone.

Thomas sent out a Facebook status that mostly read as nonsense, the word ‘please’ being the only legible word.

His friends from all around the country took the message as a plea for help. With his best interest in mind, strangers linked by Thomas contacted each other in hopes of finding help.

In the end, his friend Brad called an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and let Thomas know that help was on its way via text message.

Thomas was brought to the hospital for the night and was later discharged.

The 28-year-old said that Facebook definitely “came to the rescue” and that he was grateful help came sooner rather than later.

“I had a box on me and I was knocked out. Once I was found, I ended up okay. If I was there longer, it could have gotten worse.”

Props to Mark Zuckerberg.