Facebook is being credited for saving one man’s life.
Disable veteran, Chris Thomas is wheelchair bound and suffers from limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. He was heading into the bathroom at his Pittsburgh home. As he was about to enter the bathroom, his wheelchair caught the edge of a box. The box fell and a heavy shelf landed on his legs. The heavy weight caused the wheelchair to tip over, causing Thomas to slam his head against the linoleum floor. He tried to push himself up, but hit his head again. He spent the next hour slipping in and out of consciousness. The only thing that he was able to reach was his smartphone, which was still open to the Facebook app. Although, he wasn’t coherent enough to call 911, he was able to post a jumbled Facebook post.
His Facebook friends immediately noticed that the post was unlike anything Thomas would normally post. Friends starting contacting other friends, trying to find out if Thomas was OK. It seems Facebook was his only hope.
“I screamed for help a few times but I live at the end of the hall [in an assisted living facility for the elderly and disabled] and I couldn’t quite reach my string to hit my alarm for the guard,” he told HuffPost.
As Thomas laid on the floor, his phone received a text from a friend. The friend had alerted EMS and notified him that help was on the way.
“Facebook absolutely came to the rescue,” he said. “I had a box on me and was knocked out. Once I was found, I ended up OK. Certainly if I was there longer, it could have gotten worse. I am grateful that help came sooner rather than later.”
After a night in the hospital, Thomas was released.
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