Strangers help photoshop baby daughter

[Hum]

 Gifts have been arriving at the Steffel home in Kalida, Ohio, every day. Blankets, photographs, paintings.

It started with a simple request that grieving father Nathen Steffel posted to Reddit on Sunday:

Nathen Steffe posted this image to Reddit asking members to retouch the image to remove the tubing from his daughter's face.

"My daughter recently passed away after a long battle in the children's hospital. She was in the hospital her whole life and we were never able to get a photo without all her tubes. Can someone remove the tubes?"

The image of their daughter, Sophia, connected to breathing tubes is the Steffels' favorite because it captured her during one of few times she was awake. In the photo her eyes are wide open and she appears to be staring into the camera.

Nathen Steffel said he's been a member of the Reddit online community for a while and had seen many instances of talented Photoshop work.

He was hoping to get at least one good image. So far, he's received more than 100 photos, drawings and paintings.

"We're still getting them today. From all over the world," he said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I can't even read what some of them say."

Initially he responded to each message but eventually it became overwhelming.

They shared the news with family and friends, and when Sophia Steffel was born May 30 tests revealed a liver tumor known as hepatic hemangioma. The condition is a rare noncancerous tumor linked to high rates of heart failure and death in infants, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Sophia was transferred from one children's hospital to another and died on July 10. She was 6 weeks old.

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[COKid]

Yeah, I saw that story. Pretty cool.

[DocM]

A great story, and touching. There's nothing worse than losing a child (we went through 3 late miscarriages before my wife was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder.)

[Hum]

Amazing how kind humans can be, when they want to. ;)

[FloatingFatMan]

Amazing how kind humans can be, when they want to. ;)

 

Usually, the internet is full of faceless jerks; but then something like this happens and you get all warm and glowy inside.

 

Really hits you in the feels. :)

[Skiver Veteran]

I saw this on another site yesterday, given how some people can treat these kids of requests it's good to see that it seems only the decent human beings came out for this one.

 

I feel so sorry for the family loosing their daughter so early, I hope this can leave them with some form of happy memories of the little time they did have.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Saw this on Facebook, faith in humanity (partially) restored (y)

[bradsday]

[MikeChipshop Member]

Saw this on Reddit and the follow ups on Imgur. This is the real face of human beings. It takes a troll mere seconds to right a snarky comment, but it takes someone precious time and skill to do what these people did and that should be applauded and celebrated.