Everyone gets lost in their travels--even generous billionaires. Ty Warner, the billionaire businessman behind the 1990's trend, Beanie Babies, stopped to ask for directions, and gave the woman who helped him a $20,000 tip.
Warner got lost in Santa Barbara, Calif. on July 14 and he pulled into a parking lot of a festival to ask for directions. That's where he encountered Jennifer Vasilakos, a woman who was trying to raise money for a stem cell treatment she needed as she has kidney failure.
Vasilakos, whose kidneys failed last year for unknown reasons, needs the stem cell treatment to give her a chance to survive her life-threatening disorder. She cannot have a kidney transplant as she previously had a small melanoma removed from her back. Stem cell treatment is her other option.
Vasilakos told Warner where to go and handed him a flyer explaining her cause. Warner handed her a fifty dollar bill and drove off. However that wasn't the end of the encounter.
"He'd returned after an hour or so. Rolling down his window, he reached out his hand and introduced himself. I immediately recognized his name. He was kind and sincere as he looked directly into my eyes," Vasilakos wrote in her blog. "I listened as he repeated over and over that he was going to help me. That my fundraising was done. That I didn't need to worry any longer. He said he would send a check after he returned to his offices during the week."
Warner wasn't kidding. Vasilakods received a package at her office containing a $20,000 check a few weeks later. The check also came with a letter.
"The handwritten letter by the donor was genuine and heartfelt. It was the type of letter you keep forever, and accompanying it was the check. A check that could change my life in an instant. Streaming tears of relief and amazement fell uncontrollably from my eyes, as I walked out of the room back towards the exit. I was flooded with indescribable emotion," Vasilakos said.
Warner's donation has allowed Vasilakos to get the hematopoietic stem cell treatment that she needs. Although the treatment is cheaper than a transplant, she had to go outside of the United States because no U.S. hospitals perform the treatment that she needed
"The cost of round trip travel. The cost of the dialysis treatments while there. The cost of the stem cell treatment itself. Food. Lodging. Calculating numbers in my head, I concluded that I might have enough now to go without worrying about anything. I might have all that I need to claim my life back and continue my journey here on Earth, " wrote Vasilakos.
Vasilakos' case opened Warner's eyes as he didn't realize that the treatment she needed wasn't available in the U.S.
"After I serendipitously met Jennifer, I further educated myself on her stem cell needs. I was shocked that this particular type of treatment wasn't available to her in the U.S.," Warner said in a statement, as quoted by ABC. "My hope is that we can bring this lifesaving treatment to the forefront so that it can become more readily available and provide alternatives for people like Jennifer."
On Aug. 19 Vasilakos left her home in California as she begins her treatment at an International Cellular Medicine Society approved hospital outside of the U.S. She will explain where she received the treatment upon her return.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
