MELBOURNE MOTHER'S ACT OF KINDNESS REVEALS A HEARTBREAKING STORY
A mother-of-four whose husband is going through a devastating battle with cancer has changed her family's life after she showed immense kindness to a stranger.
Danielle Brown, from Melbourne, had been putting her groceries into the boot of her vehicle in a car park when she was asked by a stranger for some money for a bus ticket.
Ms Brown didn't hesitate to hand over some cash, and ended up giving the man $20 as she didn't know how much a ticket cost.
When she was asked why she was willing to hand over the money, Ms Brown said 'everyone is going through their thing', and revealed her husband had been diagnosed with incurable brain cancer.
What Ms Brown didn't know was that she was being filmed, and the stranger was social media star, Samuel Weidenhofer, who has more than 1 million followers on Instagram.
As thanks for her kindness, Mr Weidenhofer gave her back the $20 along with $1,000 in cash to go towards a family holiday. She was also gifted $2,000 from the team at Derrimut Gym.
Footage of the encounter has since gone viral, with Mr Weidenhofer also setting up a GoFundMe for the family, which has so far raised more than $31,000.
Ms Brown's husband Murray had a brush with death 12 years ago when he underwent a double lung transplant.
Mr Brown, who lives with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs, had recovered well and was living life to the fullest with his wife and four children, aged between two and six-years-old, when he suffered a seizure last year.
A tumour the size of an apple was found inside Mr Brown's brain with a biopsy confirming he had stage three brain cancer.
The father is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation to give him as much time as possible with his family.
'Everyone is going through their thing, we've sort of learnt that the hard way and if you can be kind then why not?' Ms Brown told Mr Weidenhofer in the video, which has been viewed more than two million times on TikTok.
'My husband last year, was diagnosed with brain cancer, it's incurable, it could be 12 months.
'We'd love to go on holiday, we'd love to do all of that, but it's money.'
The couple appeared on Seven News and thanked those who'd donated to their fundraiser.
'We recently have been reminded that you don't know what people are going through,' Ms Brown said.
Her husband said hearing his cancer was incurable was extremely 'jarring'.
'It hovers over you, (but) the kindness and generosity and all those things make you want to live every day,' he said.
Mr Weidenhofer told Daily Mail Australia he is still in contact with the Brown family who are planning to use the donations to go on an overseas trip while Mr Brown is well enough.
'They want to do as much as they can while he is healthy enough and that amount of support and funds are able to take them overseas for a trip,' he said.
A friend of the family had reached out to the social media star and shared their story with him.
That friend told Ms Brown there was a guy who was filming random acts of kindness for people, but the mother had no idea who Mr Weidenhofer was or that he was going to be there.
'I had no prior contact with her, it was fully spontaneous and there was a hidden camera,' he said.
Mr Weidenhofer has made it his mission to spread positivity following the death of his aunt who had battled with mental health issues.
'There's a lot of negative stories out there and to get out something positive makes me very happy,' he said.
'You just don't know the impact it has on them and the people watching as well.
'It fills my heart with a lot of joy to spread some positivity when there's so many horrible things happening around the world.'