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A Reason to Have Faith in Humanity: ThinkGeek Makes Christmas Bright For a Cancer Patient and His Wife

I'm In A Glass Case of Emotion

Normally, we’d say it was time to call it a day on Christmas-related posts, but this was something we couldn’t ignore. The Mary Sue is a big fan of ThinkGeek, the best site on the internet for geek-related merchandise. As an actual customer, I can more than vouch for their excellent customer service. So no one should be surprised that the company went above and beyond just excellent customer service into a new realm of goodwill towards fellow humans. Kevin “Wash” Pratt-King, 27, and married to Tashi, has been fighting a rare and nearly incurable form of cancer (99 percent of patients don’t survive) called glioblastoma multiforme. On her blog, Tashi wrote about the couple’s financial hardships and how Christmas and Hanukkah were going to be. And then, ThinkGeek stepped in and changed everything.

From Tashi’s blog:

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“…[W]e got some WONDERFUL holiday cheer from www.thinkgeek.com today. Apparently some of the “worker monkeys” read my blog here and know how HUGE geeks Wash and I are (as if his name did not give it away). (Hi friends! You guys rock!) and wanted to do something for us- they did “something” alright.

We got so many wonderful geeky things! New shirts! Chromosome towels! Adipose toys! Mad Scientist building blocks! Toys for my nephew! (he is going to LOVE his food-heavy machines and the jet plane bib, his dad is a pilot) We’re going to give the Neuron Plushie to Wash’s neurologist when we see her in about 2 weeks. (I bet she will laugh, she has such a sense of humor) I am keeping the Ebola plushie, I frakking admire filovirii, plus it’s cute. They also gave us the Blue Sun ‘travel’ poster SET, which I cannot gorram wait to frame and put up. Nathan Fillion’s giant head in our Serenity poster should be jealous. They also sent a treat for the furry legged ones in this house; a ‘Cats Attack! Cityscape scratching post. I will have to get a video of Leto attacking it.”

And once she got over the initial joy, she was overwhelmed with gratitude, and everyone on the internet shed a happy, happy tear of joy for the couple:

For some people, such gifts would warrant a thank you, and that would be enough. For us, though, a simple thank you does not cover it. Not only were we able to now “present” gifts to each other, there was plenty to share with some of our family, friends, and even a “cute” Neuron plushie that we will be giving to Wash’s Neuro-Oncologist. The material things that we received from ThinkGeek were wonderful. Far more than the actual items, though, is something that is truly priceless. Wash does not have many Christmases left, if any, and to be able to give and receive fun, quirky presents, to be able to spend Christmas without the cloud of brain cancer hovering over us, is something that we could not have expected and cannot possibly express sufficient gratitude for.

Someone at ThinkGeek had been reading Tashi’s blog and was following Wash’s story. Without so much as a whisper, the site’s PR department contacted Tashi and told her that ThinkGeek wanted to provide them some cheer for the holidays. What they got was not just material things — they got a sign that there are people who will still do pure, unselfish good in the world for the sake of making some feel cared for. It’s nice to be reminded that some people — even busy people — can be that considerate, especially during the holidays.

We urge everyone to take a look at Tashi’s blog and keep up with these happy Browncoats. We also urge you to visit ThinkGeek, frequently.

(via Wired)

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