A little boy desperately tries to save his twin brother, who shares his rare blood type, and asks for help. The response they get from complete strangers shocks the family.
Oliver, Shaun, and their parents were on their way to a game when the terrible accident happened. Oliver was buckled into his seat, but Shaun, as always, was fooling around.
Their mother turned around in her seat to scold him, and at that moment, another car crashed into them at the intersection. The first two airbags deployed, and Oliver’s seatbelt held him in place, but Shaun was not so lucky.
When the car stopped spinning, Shaun fell into their mother’s lap. Oliver would never forget the dazed fear, the voices of the paramedics, and the screeching as firefighters cut through the car’s steel.
“Shaun!” Oliver screamed. “Wake up, please, wake up!” But Shaun didn’t respond. He just lay there with his eyes closed.
The paramedics spoke with their mother: “Please, ma’am, don’t move him, okay? We’ll get him out in seconds.”
Oliver’s mother called Oliver, Shaun, and their father crying. That’s when Oliver saw his father’s eyes close as he slumped forward, held up only by his seatbelt.
Then gentle hands lifted him out and put him in the ambulance. “My brother, my dad!” Oliver kept crying, and a gentle voice told him to close his eyes and that everything would be alright.
When Oliver woke up, he was in the hospital. He had a few scratches and a bump where his head hit the side window, but he was okay. “My brother!” he shouted. “Where’s Shaun?”
A nurse immediately came to his side. “Calm down,” she said. “Your mom is talking to the doctor now and will be here soon.”
Oliver waited until the nurse turned away and slipped off the stretcher. His mother was standing about six feet away, talking to a stern-looking man in a white coat. “…we stopped the bleeding, but without the right blood supply, we can’t operate, Mrs. Torville. Unfortunately, your son is B negative. We have to wait until we find a donor…”
“I have that blood type too!” Oliver cried, limping forward. “He’s my twin brother, my identical twin!”
The doctor turned and looked at Oliver. “Son,” he said gently, “you’re too young. We can’t take blood from you.”
“I don’t care!” Oliver shouted. “Please, Mom, tell them they can! We can’t let Shaun die!”
“I’m sorry,” the doctor repeated firmly.
But Oliver stood his ground. He stepped forward, took his mother’s hand, and squeezed it.
“If he needed bone marrow, you’d take it from me, right?” he asked. “A friend of mine gave some to his little sister, and it hurt a lot. If you can take bone marrow, you can take blood!”
“Oliver…” the doctor said gently. “You might be right, but you’re still small. What we can take won’t be enough for the surgery.”
“But will it help him?!” Oliver asked. “Will it help if he waits?”
The doctor hesitated. “It’s forbidden… I’d lose my license.”
Oliver’s mother put her hand on her son’s shoulder. “And I could lose my son! Please, call your supervisor!”
Oliver didn’t hear what his mother said to the boss, but shortly after, he was sitting in a chair giving the blood his brother so desperately needed.
It didn’t take long. The bag hanging over Oliver didn’t look like it had much blood in it. “Mom,” he said, “will this be enough?”
“No, honey,” Oliver’s mother said, hugging him. “But maybe it will help. They’re giving it to Shaun now to help compensate for the blood loss. We have to hope there’s enough at another hospital for the surgery.”
“Can I see him?” Oliver asked, and his mother took him to a room filled with machines. Shaun lay on the bed, pale and motionless.
“He’s going to be okay, Mom!” Oliver whispered. “He’s going to be okay!”
Oliver’s mother smiled bravely. “Darling, he’ll be fine. Dad woke up and will be fine. Shaun will be fine too, you’ll see.”
They went to visit their father, then Mrs. Torville left Oliver with a receptionist and went to speak to Shaun’s doctor. Oliver sat there thinking for a long time. Then he had an idea.
“May I use your computer?” he asked the receptionist, who was busy arguing with an elderly lady whose hand was wrapped in ice cream and carrying a skinny dog that wouldn’t stop barking.
“Sure, but just quickly,” the woman said, too distracted to pay much attention. Excitedly, Oliver logged into his mother’s Facebook account.
He selected a photo of himself and Shaun and reposted it. “URGENT” he wrote. “My brother is at St. Felicity Hospital. He’s waiting for surgery, but the hospital needs B negative blood. Please help! If you’re nearby, please donate blood and save his life.”
Just as Oliver finished the post, a voice interrupted. “What do you think you’re doing?” The receptionist wasn’t happy at all.
Oliver tried to explain, but the woman led him out. “How rude!” she said. “Messing with my computer! Just wait until your mom finds out!”
But when Oliver’s mother appeared, she looked so sad and defeated the woman didn’t say a word. “Mom,” Oliver whispered. “What’s wrong?”
Mrs. Torville didn’t answer. She just hugged Oliver tightly.
“Mom?” Oliver said. “Could you check if you have any messages on Facebook?”
Mrs. Torville frowned. “At a time like this, Oliver, honestly…”
“Mom, I went on Facebook and asked for blood for Shaun. Maybe someone answered! Please, Mom, we have to check!”
Oliver’s mother logged in and looked. “I’m sorry, honey,” she said. “Maybe later, okay?”
About every hour, Oliver asked his mother to check, but still, no response came. Finally, Oliver fell asleep with his head in his mother’s lap, still waiting for news.
Oliver woke to his mother shaking him hard. “Oliver!” she shouted. “Wake up, wake up!”
Oliver sat up and rubbed his eyes. Why was his mother so excited? A big smile was on her face, tears running down.
“You did it, Oliver!” she sobbed. “You did it!” She pointed to a group of people.
“Look! These people are here to give blood for Shaun!” she explained. “Some of them came hundreds of miles! You saved your brother’s life, Oliver! You saved Shaun!”
That night, Shaun underwent surgery that saved his life thanks to Oliver’s determination and courage, and the gift of the donors.
