A U.K. father on the search for a blue Tommee Tippee cup for his son with autism received an overwhelming response from the internet.
Marc Carter’s 14-year-old son, Ben, has severe autism and is non-verbal. He's been drinking out of the same blue sippy cup since the age of two and refuses to drink out of anything else. But now Ben's current cup -- which he’s had for the past three years -- is falling apart.
Unfortunately, Tommee Tippee no longer makes Ben’s cup in the same style that he prefers: slim, blue with two handles and a lid. “The replacements are all new and fancy, we’ve tried them,” the 42-year-old dad explained. “Ben throws them at us.”
As a result, Carter turned to the internet for help on Monday.
“Ben hasn't drunk at school since the age of 5,” the Devon dad shared on Twitter. “He doesn't drink outside the house so we can't go anywhere. People say he will drink when he's thirsty but two emergency trips to A&E with severe dehydration say otherwise.”
Fearing what will happen if his son doesn’t receive a new cup, Carter simply asked if anyone had the same sippy that they no longer needed and were willing to send. He even offered to pay for the postage and the cup itself.
One day and 14,000 retweets later, Carter received countless responses from users offering to send him their cup.
Some users even offered alternative solutions.
Since Carter’s post went viral, it caught the attention of Tommee Tippee as well, who are now searching their headquarters for Ben’s cup.
Sarah Scott, the company’s global head of consumer experience, added that they are “currently looking through all our archive product samples to see if we have one that's just right for Ben.”
In an interview with BBC, Carter reiterated the importance of the blue cup to his son: “The cup keeps him alive. If we lost the cup and couldn't find another Ben would die. He would be put on fluids in hospital but he would yank out the tubes. This tiny blue cup dictates our life.”
Despite this, the dad-of-three has been touched by the overwhelming response he’s received from strangers.
According to BBC, Carter now has seven replacement cups for his son and is hoping to continue stocking up.
On Twitter, Carter told one user, “I really need as many as I can get to potentially last forever.”
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