How Facebook saved my life (Feel good story of the day)
There's been a lot of negative Facebook stuff on the site today. To prove the network is not all bad we searched high and low to trawl up one positive story.
Rahul Velineni realised his old pal Peter Ball was in serious trouble after he posted his symptoms on Facebook, according to a report in the South Wales Echo..
Peter, 30, wrote: “I’m in agony with pains in his stomach and I’m walking like an old man.”
At the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Rahul read that – and sent Peter a message saying: “Sounds bad. Call me ASAP – you may have appendicitis.”
Shocked Peter went straight to his doctor – and was admitted to hospital for an emergency operation to remove his appendix. It had already burst and he was in danger of peritonitis.
Peter, of Congleton, Cheshire, is now recovering yesterday – but says he owes his life to his friend’s “Facebook casebook.”
He said: “Before going to bed I left a message on Facebook saying I had severe stomach pain.
“I woke at about half-three in the morning still in pain and saw I had a message from Rahul. He asked me to call him saying he thought I might have appendicitis.
“The message really hammered home how important it was that I get this checked out. I didn’t want to disturb Rahul in the middle of the night so I went to see my doctor first thing in the morning and he confirmed Rahul’s Facebook diagnosis.
“I think I owe my life to Rahul and to Facebook. The doctors said my appendix was ruptured which can be extremely dangerous.”
The life-saving surgery was at Macclesfield General Hospital. Back home, Peter phoned to thank the friend whom he was in school with years ago.
He said: “I thanked Rahul profusely. I definitely owe him a few drinks for this.”
Rahul said appendicitis was often difficult to diagnose, but he had thought his friend’s Facebook message sounded odd. He said: “A light bulb went off in my head and I took the decision to get in touch with him.
“Thankfully he went to see his GP and the cycle started because he had a nasty appendix and it was taken out. “I think the people in the operation saved his life. I just gave him a kick in the right direction.”