Renowned filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has nearly one million followers on Twitter. His huge fan base is the reason why Monica de la Paz decided to ask for his help in sharing a GoFundMe campaign of a friend who needed a biopsy.
Doctors found multiple nodules in Monica’s friend’s thyroid. Since Monica is also from Jalisco, like Del Toro, she thought he would help her retweet the campaign to raise money for a friend she met years ago through social media.
Monica tweeted:
“Guillermo, would you allow me to send this link to you? My Texan friend needs help in order to earn a bit over 900 bucks for a biopsy. Her insurance doesn’t cover it and she needs to know if she’s relapsed into cancer. Please, from tapatío to tapatía!! Do you think you could retweet it? Thanks.”
Guillermo, te puedo pasar el link de una amiga de Texas que necesita ayuda para juntar poco mas de 900 dolares para una biopsia? No lo paga su seguro y necesita saber si recayo del cancer. Por favor, de tapatio a tapatia!! Le das RT? Gracias https://t.co/7tUNNUlyxa
— MonicaOP♥️🌎✝️🌼 (@MonicaOP) December 14, 2017
The nominee for the Golden Globe for best director answered the message less than two hours later. He did not, however, retweet the GoFundMe page as Monica requested, but instead donated $665 – the exact amount needed to reach the goal.
“It’s covered ;)” – Guillermo del Toro.
Ya esta pagado. 😉
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) December 14, 2017
One can note the filmmaker’s donation in the GoFundMe page, which is both the most recent and plentiful of the 12 contributions made. Cassie Hollingsworth, who the GoFundMe page belonged to, told Verne through text messages how she wasn’t aware her friend was planning on asking for Guillermo del Toro’s help.
“Monica only wanted the campaign to reach more people and that’s why she asked for a retweet in the link,” said the 35-year-old Texan. She read the Twitter chain only after getting notified that she reached her GoFundMe goal.
Both Monica and her friend took to Twitter to thank the filmmaker. The two women became friends online over 10 years ago, and they have never met each other in person. They began talking in 2004 through online diary community Livejournal, since both of them were fans of the T.V. series, Smallville.
Usted es increíble!! Gracias!!! Se va a poder hacer el examen!! Gracias!! de verdad que los tapatios somos la onda!! Gracias, gracias!!! 😀 Si quiere, le aviso cuando sepamos que paso!! Le pasaron la fecha al 4 de Enero!! Gracias!!! Gracias!!!!!! Lo bueno se regresa!! Gracias!!!
— MonicaOP♥️🌎✝️🌼 (@MonicaOP) December 14, 2017
Mr. del Toro, you have no idea what this means to me. Thank you so much for your generous gift. I am blown away by your kindness, & eternally grateful. I will never forget it. God bless you and your kind heart!
— Cassie Hollingsworth (@danamulder) December 14, 2017
Monica tells Verne that she made plenty of friends all around the world online and that she and Hollingsworth chat at least once a week. Working in a veterinarian hospital in Texas and living check by check without savings of any kind on her credit card, Del Toro’s donation was indeed lifesaving for Hollingsworth.
Cassie goes on to recount how she suffered ovarian cancer at 16-years-old and to go through that again worried her gravely. “I need this biopsy in order to have mental peace and in order to know which measures to take after I get the results,” she said.
Monica de la Paz not only asked Del Toro for a retweet, but she also petitioned the same to Ming Na Wen, Clark Gregg, George Takei and Mark Hamill. None of them answered, but thanks to Guillermo del Toro, it’s no longer necessary.
This article was inspired by ABC.es // Guillermo del Toro paga una biopsia de una seguidora gracias a Twitter