Becca Schofield doesn’t have much time left.
But what time she does have, she’s using to help others. Wait, no. It’s better than that. She’s using her limited time to inspire others to be, as she puts it, “better humans,” creating concentric rings of kindness and generosity that are spreading out across the entire globe.
Let’s back up for a second and get to know the incredible young woman behind the viral #Beccatoldmeto campaign.
When Becca, of Riverview, New Brunswick, was just 15, doctors diagnosed her with brain cancer. She spent the following two years fighting.
For this irreverent teen, humor was as valuable a weapon as chemotherapy. She named her brain tumor Butterscotch. She and her mom Anne called her treatment the Battle with Butterscotch. For the longest time, she seemed to be winning that battle.
But toward the end of 2016, the armies of Butterscotch rallied.
Becca went in for another MRI. The results weren’t good.
“They found 2 new tumors with indication of possibly more to come,” Anne wrote on Becca’s GoFundMe page.
“What this means for Becca if she chooses to they can offer treatment to extend life but it will not cure her cancer,” she wrote. “We have been given a approximate time frame of 3 months to possibly a year maybe a bit more.” Becca was 17 years old. She started writing a bucket list. Among the top items, she wrote down something astonishingly selfless for a teenager with a terminal prognosis. She wanted to create “a mass act of kindness.”
The Twitter movement #BeccaToldMeTo grew out of the teen’s wish to spread human compassion in her name.
She asked the Twitterverse to do something kind and to tweet about it under the hashtag #BeccaToldMeTo. That’s reason enough to be kind, she figured.
“It can be as big or as small as you’d like,” Becca explained on Twitter. “Donate to charity, volunteer your time, or even just do the dishes without your parents asking.”
“Just finished shoveling my neighbour’s walkway & front steps and then cleaned off their cars…#beccatoldmeto,” tweeted @scottclancaster.
“A young mom was panicking ahead of me at the gas station, debit declined, Visa declined, no cash, I gave the teller the $20 #beccatoldmeto,” tweeted @Toyboy48.
“Bought gloves, socks and food for a homeless man on the street because #BeccaToldMeTo,” tweeted @jennifermcginn.
“That’s insane,” Becca told CTV News. “Like, all I’m doing is just encouraging people to open their hearts and be better humans.”
People are doing just that. Why? Because Becca told them to.
Meanwhile, the generosity has splashed back on Becca and her family.
A friend started a GoFundMe campaign for the Schofields, who want to spend every moment together.
“We plan to do the most of the time we have together,” Anne wrote on the GoFundMe page. “We will take everyday as the gift that it is and fill it with love and laughter.”
To do that, though, Anne and her husband will have to take extended time off work. The crowdfunding campaign asked for $40,000 to allow the family to fulfill all the items on Becca’s bucket list.
As of this writing, they have raised $34,215 of that goal. If you’d like to help out, you can donate here.
You don’t have to give a financial gift to Becca and her family to bring a little more joy into this brave teenager’s life, which is still shining brighter than ever. You could always just do something nice and unexpected for someone in your life. Better yet, target a stranger with your random act of kindness.
If you choose to take that route, be sure to tell the world about it in a tweet. And don’t forget to add the hashtag #BeccaToldMeTo.
“We are amazed how far #BeccaToldMeTo has gone,” Anne told Global News Canada. “We are grateful for all the support we have been receiving from people near and far.”
