How A Man's Plea On Reddit To Find His Missing Mum Didn't Go Unanswered
The subject of our weekly column FEEL GOOD FRIDAY shows how the Internet demonstrated its ability to make a beautiful, positive impact in the real world this week, with Reddit users coming together to help locate a man’s missing mother in New York City.
By Sadho Ram — 25 Apr 2014, 03:03 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
A 59-year-old May Goldberg, who suffers from severe dementia, went missing on Monday in Manhattan, NY
One day later, Josh Goldberg posted on the subreddit r/nyc looking for help finding his missing mother
*"Hello all,
My mother went missing yesterday (4/21/14) after wandering out of my parent's apartment on W 69 St between Central Park West and Columbus. She was alone in the apartment at the time, and we believe she left in the early afternoon.
Her name is May Goldberg. She is 59 years old, Chinese, 5'6" 115 lbs. She has shoulder-length black hair and we believe she might be wearing a white, long-sleeve, zip-up fleece (NY1 article lists alternative clothing that she MIGHT be wearing). She speaks both Mandarin Chinese and English. She walks with a slight limp due to hip-replacement surgery she had several years ago. She has severe dementia.
We have contacted the NYPD as well as several missing persons/Alzheimer's associations to assist us with the search. We are currently putting up fliers in the surrounding areas and her information should be broadcast on several local news outlets soon."*
mashable.com
Josh posted personal information and photographs to help track her down and hoped the kindness of the Reddit community could assist with the rest.
That same Tuesday evening, fellow Redditor by the username of geryorama came upon May on a city street. After helping her to safety, he posted a response explaining how he found the missing woman.
"Hi guys. I am so glad May will be shortly reunited with her family. I was walking home from work around 9:30-10PM and I noticed May at East 47th and Lexington Avenue. As I saw Josh's post in the afternoon she looked very familiar. I quickly pulled out my phone and visited this page to ensure it is indeed her. When I realized it's her, I approached her, asked for her name, told her that her family is looking for her, and took her to Hyatt Hotel lobby to contact the police. The gentleman and lady at the Hyatt front desk were extremely helpful and they contacted the police. Two police officers arrived within 3 minutes. They identified May and I believe they called for an ambulance. In the meantime, I quickly sent a personal message to Josh via Reddit informing him that her mom has been found and that she is with the police."
businessinsider.in
On Wednesday, Josh confirmed that his mother was indeed found by Geryorama, expressing gratitude to the Reddit community for its help:
"MY MOM HAS BEEN FOUND! She is safe, but she is being checked out at the hospital as a precaution. A million thanks to /u/geryorama for finding her on the street and alerting the authorities. The outpouring of support has been completely overwhelming. My family and I send a HUGE thank you to the entire Reddit community. You are amazing. Thank you."
Many Redditors praised geryorama for being able to pinpoint May in a city of so many people
Reddit users following the developments since the post first started rejoiced with the news and in typical Reddit fashion, jokingly described Geryorama as the "Where's Waldo champion of the world." For his heroism, Geryorama received 23 months of Reddit Gold and more than 16,000 upvotes.
This Reddit comment (now deleted) sums up the feel-good story perfectly:
"Reddit took a break from posting cat jokes and misidentifying terrorists today to do something useful."
reddit.com