David Douglas is a 6ft tall, 330 pound ex-marine turned powerlifter, nicknamed “The Beast,” and his best friend is a 12-year-old who stands at 3 1/2 feet tall and weighs just 30 pounds.
This special little girl is named Lindsay Ratcliffe and she suffers from a rare disease called progeria.
This fatal genetic condition causes premature aging at 8-10 times the normal rate, and most of those afflicted die of heart attacks or strokes by the age of 14. Only an estimated 150 children in the world suffer from this terrible disease.
It would seem unlikely that 29-year-old David Douglas and Lindsay would be the best of friends, but according to aplus.com, they hit it off immediately. “The Beast” and Lindsay met when they attended Relentless, a sponsored powerlifting event to benefit children with rare diseases.
Since then, the two have been inseparable and it’s absolutely adorable.
“Lindsay became my lil sis since day one,” Douglas writes. “There are no words to describe how I feel about her. She has pulled me out of rough spots just by thinking of her. That is a priceless gift.”
He continued, “That is why I made it my duty to help her out in any way that I can. We tried hard to get her on the Ellen show so that we could spread her story of this rare condition to the world, but fell short, but still truly hoping to get on there. One of Lindsay’s favorite shows.”
FOX 32 Chicago reposted this picture of David and Lindsay, and David says,
“I got a picture from a friend that took a picture of us and I felt very strongly about it so I wanted to get the point across on how I felt about it and her. People looked at me as strong when everything about her was stronger. Instead of putting those words off to the side, I decided to put it right on me to make the point even louder. You have to look at the big picture of it.”
The two have remained close since meeting and David decided to fly across the country to surprise Lindsay in Michigan for a charity.
“I will forever remember that moment and that feeling seeing her run to me and smile,” David recalls.
To help Lindsay and her family, you can donate to their fundraising page here.
Please SHARE this amazing little girl and her hero’s incredible journey with friends on Facebook!
[Featured Image: Facebook/David Douglas]
Little Girl Fighting Rare Disease Becomes Best Friends With 330lb Weightlifter Nicknamed ‘The Beast’ is an article from: LifeDaily