UPDATE: 12/1 ― Tommee Tippee announced to BBC News that it found the original mold needed for Ben’s cup and will begin producing 500 of them for the teen. In a Facebook post, the company thanked its customers for their help and wrote that Ben will now be “set for life.”
PREVIOUSLY:
Carter has also started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to create a documentary about his experience with #CupForBen. He hopes to highlight autism and its impact on families.
“As big as the story is, the bigger story is about all the other parents who have a ‘Ben’ and their own Little Blue Cup that is so debilitating to the lives of the whole family,” he wrote.
A dad searching for a specific cup for his son with autism has found some help from people he doesn’t even know.
On Monday, Marc Carter, who lives in North Devon in England, tweeted that his son Ben needed a replacement for his Tommee Tippee cup. Carter told The Huffington Post that his son will be 14 on Saturday and has used the cup exclusively since he was 2 years old. In the past, Ben had to be treated for dehydration because he won’t drink out of other cups.
“He doesn’t drink outside of the house so we can’t go anywhere,” Carter wrote on Twitter.
Carter said he was able to replace Ben’s first disintegrating cup a few years ago, but now his son’s current cup, which isn’t made anymore, is also in bad shape. He wrote that it won’t last long and asked for help in finding more cups, including photos so people would know what he is looking for.
Twitter users quickly began sending in photos of similar cups they had in various colors and styles and offered to send them to Carter. He clarified though that they had to be almost identical to what Ben currently has. Tommee Tippee, the company behind the cup, even had its team search for it in the same style and color and helped spread the word about Carter’s search on Facebook and Twitter.
On Tuesday, Carter gave an update on Twitter and thanked everyone for their help. He told HuffPost he’s received four cups in the mail so far.
“The cups are all perfect, look like they haven’t even been used, the right color, just what we need,” he said.
Carter also said that Tommee Tippee, who asked its customers if they had cups like Ben’s, is sending about 25 more his way. He described everyone who has spread the word and sent cups as his “heroes.”
“It’s so fantastic. I genuinely cried at a few points in the past few days,” he said. “I also love that it’s making people think about autism, even if just for a few minutes.”
The appreciative dad noted that because his son will likely need these cups for the rest of his life, he will be seeking more in the future. For now though, he is thankful for strangers who rallied together to help his son.
“Genuinely this is better than winning the lottery.”
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