Christian Larsen is a kid with autism. He was going to celebrate his birthday in June of 2019 so he sent out invitations to his friends in school.

Lindsay Barrus Larsen, Christian’s mom, received just one response from a girl in her son’s class. A couple more days later and there still weren’t any responses.

RSVP protocol dictates a response but not everyone knows this. A school year picnic revealed to her that there was something else.

At the end of the picnic, Christian asked the other kids to RSVP to his birthday party.

One girl said, “Okay”, one kid said “No,” while another replied, “Maybe.”

Not even the parents acknowledged him.

Lindsay posted about the heartbreaking experience on Facebook.

“At first I was just hoping that with the end of the year chaos, that the invitations were overlooked,” she wrote. “But, after seeing the personal interactions, I’m thinking maybe there is more. The hardest thing, is I do understand.”

“It can be uncomfortable to try to be a friend with someone who has had outbursts and cried in class,” she continued. “It’s hard when maybe you tried at the start of the year, and he kept wandering off in the middle of the game.”

Lindsay didn’t bother making anymore requests. She had activities planned for Christian and his one friend who was coming.

Her friend, Blythe Ben-David, thought the birthday boy deserved better.

Blythe is from South Texas while the Larsens are in Meridian, Idaho. Pretty far but Blythe had an idea even though she couldn’t go.

Dan Holtry, the football coach at Nampa High School in Idaho, is a good friend of hers so she asked if he could help.

Holtry messaged his team, informing them of Christian’s science-themed party plus the lack of response to his invitations.

“The kids, before I could finish the text — it felt like — they were like, ‘Coach, We’re in,’” Dan told KTVB. “I was amazed at how much they wanted to participate in this and take care of Christian.”

On June 4, some of Christian’s classmates, neighborhood kids, and family friends showed up. The surprise guests arrived as Christian was playing in the yard.

Dan and the football team, all in uniform, arrived on the patio, chanting Christian’s name. Christian was shocked, falling to the ground and pretending to pass out.

The athletes came with gifts for him too!

“It was just an opportunity to take care of a guy that was going through adversity, and we’re blessed here at Nampa High School,” Dan said. “We have a lot of great kids. We know about adversity and we have our fair share, and we know how to fight through it.”

The coach and his team stayed until the end of the party.

They played with the kids, sang Christian a happy birthday, and even watched him open his presents. Then they signed autographs. Christian had the best birthday ever!

“I have lots of best days in my life, and this might be one of them!” Christian told KTVB.

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Source: My Positive Outlooks, KTVB