A 16-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumour at just 17 months old has made a video about his struggles that's been viewed 10 million times, and seen him get a phone call from music legend Sir Elton John.
Lewis Hine, from Hampshire, England, created a simple video explaining the myriad of medical procedures he has had to undertake throughout his life, and how that has affected him on a day-to-day basis.
He recounted his brain tumour diagnosis, his 13 life-saving brain surgeries, and the drug-resistant epilepsy, seizures and hydrocephalus he is afflicted with as a result of the growth on his cranium.
In the video, he gives a courageous and heart-warming message - that though people consider his disability a bad thing, he considers himself lucky as it has taught him not to take anything for granted.
The video took off after he posted it on Facebook last Saturday (local time), and has since been watched close to 10 million times and shared on more than 260,000 occasions.
However, of those millions of views, one is bound to be rather more significant than most - and that was from world-renowned singer and composer Sir Elton John. The 69-year-old surprised the teenager with a phone call and told him that his video had elicited tears.
"Sir Elton John phoned and said he'd watched the video and I was so inspirational it made him cry," Mr Hine told the BBC.
His mother Emma Hine said the realisation that Sir Elton had given Lewis a call "was a crazy moment in the house".
"He said with all the bad news in the world, he was so inspired by Lewis's video and just had to call to thank him," she told Sky News.
"He was amazing - and so caring and genuine."
Newshub.
