Dad Searched For A Cup For His Son With Autism, Flooded With Unexpected Help From Social Media

A dad was just searching for a specific cup for his son with autism, but he ended up seeing random people helping him.

Marc Carter, from North Devon in England, tweeted about his son Ben who needs a replacement for his Tommee Tippee cup. Ben will turn 14 on Saturday and has used the cup exclusively since he was two years old.

Ben used to be treated for dehydration in the past because he actually will drink out of other cups, Marc said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "He doesn't drink outside of the house so we can't go anywhere," Marc wrote on Twitter.

Carter was able to replace Ben's first disintegrating cup some years ago but it is now distorted and seems not to last longer. He used the social media to find more cups by attaching photos so people would know what was searching for. Twitter users swiftly responded with photos of similar cups that were actually available in various colors and styles. Some offered to send them for free to Marc. Most of those cups were identical to what Ben currently has.

Tommee Tippee, the maker of the cup, even generously had the team to work on searching for the cup in the same style and color. They also helped Marc to spread the word throughout 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.

Marc got a lot of cups from tweeters especially from Tommee Tippee. He described them and all who helped to spread the word as "heroes" for him and his son.

"It's so fantastic. I genuinely cried at a few points in the past few days," he said. He was fascinated about how people respond to the needs of kids with autism. Marc expressed his heartfelt thanks and his overwhelmed emotions that he thought is better than winning the lottery.