Soulmates

The Dan (and Gabriele) Project

That night I went onto my laptop and started a fundraiser. I called it 'The Dan Project'. I didn't tell him. It was a surprise. It asked me to put in a description of where the money would go so I wrote

My best friend, Dan, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He is going to die. I need to raise money to go towards any treatment I can get for him to live. He is 17 and no one should ever die that young. I ask that you donate to this cause not only because it sucks that someone aged 17 will die if you don't but also because he is my only friend. If he died, then so would I. 

I put in the bit at the end because it was true. If he died, I would die as well but there was no point explaining it to these people. They just  needed to know that he needed their help. I launched the page and shared it to all my social networks. I didn't have many Facebook friends or twitter followers but the one who were there could help.

After waiting about an hour, I heard my phone ring. It was a message saying that 10 people had already donated. I went onto the page and saw that almost £50 had been donated. I didn't know how much I would need but I was on my way there. 

Over the next few days more and more people were donating. I reached £100 very quickly, then £500 and then £1000. I was getting donations from all over the world and they were all giving so much. I was amazed that so many people cared about me and my friend. Obviously they didn't know the full story but they knew they were helping. I scrolled down the page to the comments section. So many nice comments were written on the page.

"Stay strong, dear. I hope my $10 helps"

"I wish you both the best. I donated £5"

"You are a great best friend for doing this. Take care"

All of the comments were positive and then I came across one with over 30 likes,

"Gabriele, you didn't need to do this for me but thank you anyway. I really miss you. You haven't visited in days. I hope we can reach your goal and that I will survive but we both know that it might not happen. You are probably the reason I am not dead yet. I couldn't imagine life without you. Lots of Love, your best friend, Dan."

At this point I was sobbing. I ran out to the car and drove to the hospital. I ran through to his ward and practically jumped on the bed. He hugged me and we both sat there, tangled in each other, hair stuck to our faces, crying. 

At 10 the nurse came to tell me I had to go home so I got back in the car and drove home, the taste of my tears still on my lips. Once I got home, I looked back on the website. Since I had left someone from Australia had donated £500. I picked up my phone and called Dan.

"Gabriele? I'm supposed to be sleeping."

"I know but someone donated £500. I couldn't wait 'till morning to tell you."

"£500?"

"Yep. I have raised enough for your treatment."

"No way. I love you, I love you, I love you."

"I love you too."

Then he hung up the phone. I crawled into bed and I didn't need to cry myself to sleep. He was going to live and so was I. Nothing could put me in a bad mood.