Autistic Boy Gets Thousands Of Birthday Cards After Mum's Appeal

An autistic boy has received thousands of birthday cards from well-wishers from across the world after his mum's online appeal went viral.

Karen Jones, 49, from Exmouth, made the plea on a community page on Facebook after her son Ollie revealed he loved opening cards - and had made his own - for his 15th birthday on Saturday.

She wrote: "We are a small family and he has no friends so gets very few."

By Friday morning, her appeal had been shared by 25,000 users and had also reached Twitter, with people sharing their birthday greetings and images of the cards they were sending to Ollie under the hashtag #cards4ollie.

Cards were promised from as far as South Wales and Glasgow to Cyprus, Crete and even Australia.

Heather Jones wrote on Facebook: "Sent one today from Glasgow 1st class post. Hope it arrives on time xx."

Ryan McCourt posted: "This card is being sent from 2066 miles across the world in Cyprus! All of the Kanika Allstars here at the Olympic Lagoon Resort; Ayia Napa!! We hope you have a special day."

Lianne Fagan, who lives in Brisbane, Australia, wrote: "Shared Australia. Will be posting a card for Ollie Tomoz. Hope he has a wonderful birthday."

Ms Jones told Sky News the response had been "phenomenal".

"This has got so much bigger than Ollie and his birthday," she said.

"It's about people being able to be part of the most amazing feel-good factor with little money and just a little bit of effort.

"My local postman and I had to go down to the sorting office to apologise after it all got a little out of hand.

"They estimated I had between eight and 10 thousand cards!"

She added: "I live in a two-bedroom terrace. I've got no idea where we can put all the cards!"