As a boy with autism, Dylan Johnson never was much interested in “normal” toys. Instead, he always had a passion for vacuum cleaners.
For his 14th birthday party, his mother Jodie wrote a letter to the Kirby Company, hoping to get a vacuum salesman to come and give a demonstration of Dylan’s all-time favorite machine.
She wrote: “He has always been obsessed with vacuum cleaners. His favorite is the Kirby. He spends hours every day watching videos on his tablet about different Kirby’s. When he isn’t watching videos about them, he is talking about them. I really would LOVE to get a demo done for him for his birthday. In fact, I am even getting him a cake made that looks like a Kirby vacuum. I am writing to you in hopes that you can get me in touch with a way to get him this demo. I want to be clear that I do not intend on purchasing a Kirby. I was hoping that I could pay a flat fee or thought that maybe if you have salesmen in training that needs to get in practice demos for training purposes. I do not want anything free, but as the mother of a special needs child, it is so hard to find things to make my son happy. I know that having this demo done would just be so awesome, and it would warm my heart to see him so excited to experience that.”
WTVR reported that not only did the company send the boy a Kirby t-shirt and hat, they arranged for salesman Al Archie to attend the party in Chesterfield, Virginia.
Archie, who has been selling the deluxe machines door-to-door for 25 years, said, “He knew more about the Kirby than I did.”
But there was one thing Dylan didn’t know. Archie had planned a surprise, and gave Dylan the expensive vacuum free of charge at the end of the demonstration, saying it was an “opportunity to give something back.”
The teen has been joyfully cleaning the carpets in every free moment since the party ended on Saturday.
(READ the full story w/ more family photos at WTVR)
Story tip from Kim Campbell