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88-year-old man can retire thanks to a good Samaritan on TikTok and donors all over the world.
Veteran Ed Bambas, left, with influencer Samuel Weidenhofer. Photo: military.com
After a career at General Motors (GM), Army veteran Ed Bambas retired in 1999, relying upon his GM pension.
Unfortunately, the 2009 GM bankruptcy eliminated his pension. Then his wife's long illness, until her death seven years ago, brought considerable medical debt.
Ed had to go back to work full-time, working at a Meijer supermarket in Brighton, Michigan.
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"The thing that hurt me the most was when my wife was really sick, and when they took the pension, they also took the health care coverage and all but like $10,000 of my life insurance," Ed told NBC News.
Ed's wife died seven years ago, and he said he has been trying to stay afloat ever since. Photo: foxnews.com
So, he sold their home, and "made it through."
Meanwhile, Lexi Wallace, a Meijer shopper, alerted Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer on his Facebook page.
Samuel arrived at the store to interview Ed.
Samuel recorded a video of their interview for his 7.7 million TikTok followers, and he also began a GoFundMe page for Ed.
The response was overwhelming, one of the most successful fundraisers in GoFundMe history.
In early December, Ed and Samuel met again, and Samuel told Ed he had a "little surprise."
"If you want, you will be able to retire, because we've raised you $1.77 million," Samuel said.
"Thank you. Oh, my God," Ed replied, while wiping away his tears.
"It's something that dreams are made of, trust me," Ed added, deeply grateful to Samuel and the tens of thousands of donors all over world, who opened their hearts and wallets to him.
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