Dubai: Born with speech disability, 21-year-old now helps terminally ill children
Samuel Weidenhofer was mocked and bullied on and off for a speech disability as a child. Now he’s a content creator who distributes happiness and positivity through his social media and is one of the five finalists shortlisted for the 1 billion Award (an $1 million prize for content creators).
Samuel takes mostly dying kids to see their favourite stars on his social media accounts and rallies around the needsiest.
The 21-year-old said he was driven to do good after his own life. ‘I was born with speech disability and mum never knew if I was going to be able to talk or talk correctly,’ he said. "I was bullied through school all my life, and I had developed depression. My aunt killed herself when I was nine. I was the one who answered the phone when my uncle called and I know how hard his life was. No one should have to be like that".
He began his own content creation four years ago, where Samuel started to post pranks and interview videos on his site. But he was not having fun, he saw. "I had a bad night and my friend got me in the car and said, "You have followers but are you happy?" he said. "If you’re a creator, and you’re going to do well, you need to be you," he told me. That’s when I was like why don’t I just help people, because that’s my pleasure".
Most memorable
In the past three years, Samuel has facilitated hundreds of people but Alex is the only one he remembers.
"He was 14 years old and he had cancer," he told me. ‘I took him to see Travis Barker in America. Alex received the numbing medication epidural so he could attend the concert and meet Travis. And then it really did cancer, and Alex died three weeks later. But I would never forget the look on his face when he told me after the concert "you gave me the best night of my life".
He said Alex taught him to be present. "He was 14 and he was dying, untimely death," he said. "But he had got over it. That’s how I believe people ought to be living their life. You never know when your days are up, you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow so live in the moment and do whatever you want".
Mental Health
Samuel said that he’s faced people who are dying every day, so he’s had to learn how to build walls to keep himself mentally healthy. ‘You’re not too involved and you have to be like — you need that emotional wall where you can care, be there, love them, but don’t let it take a lot out of you because I don’t think that would make me want to give away the positives,’ he said. "I see dead kids I know. I've seen poverty. I use that as a motivator to want to change that."
He said he wants to win the 1 billion. ‘If I win, I will set up a not-for-profit in proportion to the total effect of kindness,’ he said. "A lot of those things have specific requirements on what you have to do but I would like mine to be about helping people and being nice. I’ve always wished this was sustainable and included more people. If it was a non-profit, more people would give and I could reach more people."
The 5 finalists for the 1 billion prize were elected by the public with 3.3 million votes cast globally. This year, the winner will be selected in secret meetings by an international jury of influencers and advisors.
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