One ordinary day, you receive a wrong text. What do you do? Like most people, you’d probably send a “Sorry, wrong number” text. For one man, Tony Wood, it was a different story. After receiving a wrong text, he decided to do something else.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Instead of doing what many people usually do, he decided to respond to the mystery texter in a funny way. After all, what was there to lose? Little did he know, responding to that message would actually end up saving his kid’s life.
A Weird Message
In 2018, Tony Wood was at home having a relaxing evening with his children when he received a text from an unknown number. However, this wasn’t something out of the ordinary for him. As a realtor, he was used to receiving texts from unknown numbers.
Tony Wood/Facebook
When he opened the text, he expected it to come from a buyer who couldn’t wait until morning. However, as soon as he read it, he realized it was a wrong number situation. In hindsight, this text would actually save his child’s life.
Wrong Number
As it turns out, the wrong number came from a teenage girl who was looking for some advice. She had accidentally sent Wood photos of her wearing an elegant gown. In the text, the girl was asking how it looked on her.
@bbymandi/Twitter
Wood thought the girl was probably preparing for a special event, like a prom or a wedding. It was clear that she wanted some advice from whoever she was supposed to be texting. Wood didn’t have any experience with that, but he decided to have a little fun.
Small Act of Kindness
Wood came up with a lovely idea. He decided to run to his children for help and asked them for their advice. The kids enthusiastically expressed their ideas. They loved how the dress looked on the woman.
@bbymandi/Twitter
Then, Wood asked all his children to group together so he could take a picture of them. The children all gave a thumbs up. After taking the photo, he sent it to the lady. He had no idea this would be the start of an adventure.
No Reaction
Although he enjoyed taking a photo of his children, Wood was not expecting any reply. He didn’t mind, though. All he wanted to do was make a stranger smile. That’s why he did what he did. Unfortunately, his children were eager to get a reply.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Sadly, they waited for hours on end but did not hear back from the woman. Eventually, the family forgot all about it and moved on with their lives. Then, a couple of weeks pass, and the man reads something on the internet that takes him by surprise.
A Shocking Discovery
Because the woman never replied, Wood decided to carry on with their lives. However, that wasn’t actually what happened. Any businessman knows how important social media is when it comes to garnering attention.
@bbymandi/Twitter
One day, while he was scrolling through Twitter, he saw the photo of his children that he sent to the woman a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, it was from a woman named Mandi Miller, who also included pictures of the dress she sent to Wood.
Twitter Famous
Along with the pictures she uploaded, she also included a caption that explained the whole situation. The mystery woman was actually Miller’s friend, Syd, who was too shy to respond to Wood’s message. Finally, everything started to make sense!
@bbymandi/Twitter
However, what was more surprising was that the tweet went viral and garnered more than 150,000 retweets, 680,000 likes and 500 comments. Although Wood never got a reply, he was just happy to read all of this on Twitter.
Sending A “Hi”
Tony Wood didn’t know who Mandi Miller nor Sid was, but he thought he decided he’d try to reach out one more time. Wood decided to respond to the tweet and introduce himself as the kid’s father. He also mentioned stumbling across the tweet by surprise.
@TonySellsTN/Twitter
Even if the story ended there, that would’ve been a nice end to a story. After all, how often do people have such a wonderful exchange like that from a random number? Wood didn’t know, though, that his reply would cause a ripple.
Missing Family Members
In his tweet to Mandi, Wood also mentioned something personal about his family. He revealed that in the picture he sent, there were actually two family members absent from the photo: his six-year-old son and wife.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
The family was going through some dark times because his son was in the hospital, which is why he decided to do one random act of kindness. But of course, Miller wanted to know why the little boy was at the hospital.
What Did Kaizler Have?
A few years before the wrong number situation, little Kaizler suddenly became weak and suffered from a fever that, for some reason, would not go away. At first, his parents thought he probably just caught the flu. However, the symptoms progressed.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Wood and his wife brought little Kaizler to the hospital, but the doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. Things only got weirder when they received the lab results and found out Kaizler had neither flu nor ear infection.
Doing More Tests
The doctor was not giving up. She wanted to know what was wrong with Kaizler, so she ordered full bloodwork. Wood and his wife, Rachel, were anxious to get to the bottom of it. It seemed like not knowing only fueled their fears.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
The worse thing was before all of it started, Kaizler was such a happy kid bursting with life. Now, it was even a miracle if he would get out of bed. His parents knew there definitely was something wrong. When the bloodwork came back, the doctors revealed something that changed their lives forever.
It Was Much Worse
One day, the hospital called Tony and Rachel and asked them to bring Kaizler to the hospital as soon as possible. The results have come back, and the doctor feared it could either be a severe infection or, worse, leukaemia.
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The news shattered the Wood family. This string of events happened just days before Christmas, a time of love and happiness. They began hoping for a Christmas miracle. “We have never prayed so hard for a severe viral infection in our lives,” Tony Wood said.
Devastating News
A day before Christmas Eve, Tony and Rachel sat in Kaizler’s doctor’s office. She finally had a diagnosis for their son’s illness. Sadly, it wasn’t a viral infection. The doctor informed the couple that poor Kaizler indeed has leukaemia.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Indeed, the news was absolutely devastating, but the couple didn’t want to waste their time having a pity party. They wanted to see this through with Kaizler. They started praying and remained hopeful that Kaizler would win his battle against leukaemia.
Staying Hopeful
Learning Kaizler had leukaemia broke their hearts, but they believed that everything would work out great in the end. Kaizler was a healthy kid; he was going to beat this. Not having much control over the situation, they put their trust in the Lord.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Wood said, “Through it all though, we know God is with us. He has shown himself to us on several occasions, and we trust that He will pull us through.” Little did he know, God was indeed working in His mysterious ways.
Prayers for Kaizler
When Tony and Rachel found out about Kaizler’s leukaemia, they started a Facebook group called Prayers for Kaizler. They were religious people and hoped people who saw the group might offer their prayers and help poor Kaizler.
Tony Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Often, though, groups like these receive more than just prayers. The family’s main objective for starting the Facebook group was to raise awareness for Kaizler’s situation, but they received more than that. It all began when a stranger took matters into their own hands.
Garnering Attention
When the Facebook page slowly gained attention, Tony decided to share the link on his Twitter account. A day later, he woke up to discover that more and more people had started following the page with their Facebook accounts.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
One user with the Twitter handle, @iluminaughty, reached out to Tony. The user had no pictures and barely tweeted anything. Tony had no idea who this person was, but then again, he didn’t know a lot of the new members of the group.
A Strange Request
This mysterious Twitter user decided to help Tony out. A day after he reached out to Tony, @iluminaughty tweeted the link to Kaizler’s GoFundMe page that was meant to cover any medical expenses incurred.
@_Hedge/Twitter
Tony and Rachel believed this person meant well. Plus, at that point, they were ready to do whatever it took to help Kaizler. @iluminaughty mentions that Kaizler wasn’t in the original photo giving a thumbs up in his tweet.
A Thumbs Up From Kaizler
Twitter user @iluminaughty then asked for a photo of Kaizler giving a thumbs up. Tony realized this user must have recognized them from the viral tweet. “I thanked him for his consideration and posted a picture of Kaizler giving him a thumbs up.”
@TonySellsTN/Twitter
Although he wasn’t the only one who remembered the viral tweet, it seems like he was the only one who managed to find a connection. After Tony uploaded the picture, things started to go crazier for the Wood family.
Viral Again
After Kaizler’s thumbs-up photo was uploaded, the family became a viral sensation for the second time. Wood recalls, “We told the kids they were Twitter famous, and, while they thought that was cool, we didn’t get a big response, mostly because they don’t exactly know what Twitter is.”
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
This time, the family prayed going viral might mean more donations for Kaizler’s GoFundMe account, and that’s exactly what happened! “What really shocked us was the growth of our GoFundMe account,” Tony Wood says.
Thanks, Twitter!
By then, Tony’s Twitter account, the Facebook group, and the GoFundMe account all received a lot of attention. In fact, in just a couple of hours, the family managed to earn a lot of money. Tony recalls, “I remember tweeting about how the GoFundMe had received an extra $1,000! We were so excited. That extra $1,000 was going to be a big deal for us in our current situation.”
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
It seemed like the family owe their thanks to @iluminaughty for doing some PR for them. Whether it was meant to be intentional or not, they got the help they’d been praying for. But that wasn’t even the best part.
One Day Later
The family was overwhelmed with the emotional and financial support they received from everyone. In fact, in just 24 hours, the family received more than double the target amount they had on the GoFundMe page!
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Treatments for leukaemia can break the bank. So it was an answered prayer for the Wood family to be receiving support from well-intentioned people. Now, money wasn’t a huge issue, and they could focus on helping Kaizler recover.
The Power of Social Media
Social media can be a double-edged sword. It can be a place of hatred and negativity, but it can also be a place where miracles happen, and prayers are answered. In this case, people on the internet were angels sent to help out the Wood family.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Eventually, Kaizler’s GoFundMe page managed to accumulate an estimated total of $62,000! They had only asked for 10 grand, but this amount of money would definitely help pay for all of Kaizler’s medical treatments. Not only that, the family received kind messages from people all around the world, too.
Garnering Attention
Thanks to the power of the internet, media outlets worldwide got a hold of the family’s story and wanted to share it with the rest of the world. Attention from media outlets meant more help for the Wood family.
@bbymandi/Twitter
This was something the Wood family never expected to happen. “We have an amazing support of friends and family. The prayers have been non-stop. People have given their time and energy to help us in whatever ways they can,” Tony says.
Quitting
Before this whole thing blew up, Tony worked as a realtor. But since then, he decided to quit his job as a real estate agent and go back to living a “multiple job life”, as he described on his Twitter account.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
Wood found it rather difficult to work while trying to help his wife raise their six kids and helping Kaizler with his leukaemia. However, it’s safe to assume Wood is only taking a break to help his wife out. Maybe when things calm down, he’ll go back to work.
Looking Back
Tony Wood never expected all of this to happen, and it was all because he decided to reply to a good-natured wrong number text. Since then, he had reflected on the chain of events that began when he responded to that text.
Tony Wood/Facebook
“Society puts a lot of pressure on these young women to have a certain look, and a certain body build,” he explained to Daily Mail Australia. “We try to teach our children to be themselves and not worry about what others think. Even with that, my young daughter already expresses a desire to fit in, and I figured this young lady might need that reassurance.”
@Iluminaughty’s Identity
Eventually, the family did come to know more about the mysterious user who helped them. During one interview, Tony Wood mentioned that Twitter user @iluminaughty was a “kind man from India” but did not provide more details.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
There could be a good reason why Tony did not want to divulge more about this user. Maybe he wanted to keep a low profile. After the story went viral, this user changed his Twitter handle to @_Hedge. It remains unclear why he did what he did, but his Twitter bio does say, “Stop Hating, Start Loving.” That probably explains it.
Last Treatment
In March 2019, loyal followers of the GoFundMe page received an exciting update from Tony. “Just a few more clinics and Kaizler gets to take his last dose of chemo (God willing that there isn’t a relapse),” it stated. If it weren’t for the help of these generous strangers, the Wood family would probably have needed to take on huge debt to pay for Kaizler’s treatments.
Rachel Wood/Prayers for Kaizler/Facebook
It seems that the chemo actually did its job. The updated pictures show a young Kaizler with a big smile on his face. It looks like little Kaizler is back to being his old self. Thanks to that wrong number text, things seem much brighter for the Wood family.
