Social media is good for something! Following a tragic car accident, Jets quarterback Tim Tebow and Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin reached out to the two teens.
Last Saturday, four high school students were involved in a car accident in upstate New York. Two of them did not survive. The other driver was found to be drunk when he crashed into the car with the four teens.
The two survivors were hospitalized for their injuries but were classified as stable. The young man hospitalized with a concussion and broken bones is a football fan and plays for his high school. The Twitter hashtag #TebowCallMatt began circulating on the social media site. Data shows that in just one day it appeared in 50,000 tweets. Late that night the young man's phone rang with his favorite player on the other end of the line to offer his support.
As this was going on, the young woman who also survived the crash was the focus of another Twitter movement. A diver for her high school, the young woman was hospitalized for broken bones. #MissyCallBailey began trending with 16,000 tags, and Olympic swimming gold medalist Missy Franklin called the young woman.
So often it can be a struggle to find a bright side for the issue of personal injury, but in these cases, social media proved to bring a welcome voice to these young people. Though it can't undo what happened or speed along physical recovery, the spirits of the victims in this crash and their families could be cheered by the kindness of many strangers who brought about their phone calls.
Source: The Huffington Post, "Tim Tebow Calls Matt Hardy: #TebowCallMatt Twitter Campaign Connects Accident Survivor With QB," Chris Greenberg, Dec. 5, 2012
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