Dubai: At a time when people have more online connections than real life, a story about a unique friendship is going viral - the surprising bond between a young woman named, Aoife Isabella Malone, and a 98-year-old man is going viral.
Malone, a jewellery brand owner moved to a small town in Scotland when she was 19, to study fashion. And because of the lack of job opportunities, she decided to work at a store.
And it was there she came across an 89-year-old man named Tommy, who visited multiple times a day. In the viral TikTok video, which now has over 11.5 million views and over 1.6 million likes, Malone mentions that Tommy was lonely and looking for some company at the store, as he had lost his wife the previous year.
After she noticed him several times during her shift, she decided to join him at the bingo game one night. “He was delighted and got all dressed up for the occasion,” she said in the post.
Malone’s friends decided to join her as a precaution, since they had never met Tommy, but they were more than delighted to walk alongside him for the bingo game.
“Tommy walking into the bingo with four young ones on his arm was the talk of the town that week,” Malone said.
And that was how, as Malone, now 28, said, the beautiful friendship began. Malone and Tommy began to meet every day at her work and even at his home a few times a week, where Tommy would cook her dinner. She would even take him out for dinner or the cinema.
Malone noted in the post the Tommy enjoyed the cinemas or “the pictures”” as he called it.
The unlikely friendship continued to grow and Tommy even modelled for a university project for Malone. “Killed it tbh (to be honest),” she said.
Not only were they just hanging out and watching cinemas together, but Tommy also made her practice her driving almost every single day for months, which led to Malone passing her test – in his car.
After the first year of her university, Malone and her friends decided to move to Edinburgh and commute to their university. The girls would get to the station where Tommy would then drive them to their university, every day. According to Malone, he also became good friends with all of her friends and Malone and her friends also had a surprise birthday party for him one year.
Tommy even visited Malone and her friends in Edinburgh every few weeks. Malone went on to explain how Tommy had met almost all of her friends over the years, as well as her family in 2018. Malone also revealed that Tommy was her mother’s plus one at her graduation in 2018.
However, this was when everything changed for the best friends. Malone had been employed at a company in New York City, meaning they would be very far away. Malone mentions how Tommy and she spent their last night at Edinburgh before she left.
“We sat on a bench in St. Andrews Square in Edinburgh sharing earphones listening to Frank Sinatra. I was not sure of how long I’d be in America and was scared as I wouldn’t see him for years and I’d say he felt the same,” she mentioned in the viral video.
Unfortunately, the uncertainty grew stronger after the world was hit with the Covid-19 pandemic. Malone says she began calling him every day to make sure he was okay, especially because it was hard for him to be more isolated, and not being out and about.
It was during this time when Malone and Tommy’s story became a little viral when she posted on her Instagram on his birthday. She had asked people to send him a card for his 95th birthday and surprisingly, Tommy received thousands of cards, presents and cakes from people all the world. According to Malone, school children even wrote him letters as a project set by their teachers.
This small viral moment led to them being asked about their story on a morning show, one which Tommy loved.
“Tommy was buzzing because that’s one of his fave (favourite) shows,” she said in the post.
Eventually, Malone moved back from America and officially introduced her boyfriend, Anton, to Tommy who Malone says had been “hearing about him for a year”.
Tommy, who now lives in a care home, was in World War II and according to Malone, “Has some amazing stories. He’s a big feminist and really doesn’t understand the world we live in now and how it’s gotten so dark.”
Malone says she has learned a lot from Tommy over the years and in return she taught him to do the peace sign.
Tommy, now 98, will be celebrating his 99th birthday next month. Malone also visits him every six weeks and she says, “He’s still sharp as the day I first met him.”
In another video of Tommy from July 13, 2021, Malone asks him what his message to the world is. He replied saying he appreciates everything the people in health service do.
“Anything? At the present time, if there’s anything I could do in the whole world just now, it would be that everybody take precaution they can and think about these people in the health service who get up every day and go out, start their work and it goes on and on with very little rest. And they’re doing a wonderful, wonderful job,” he said.
Netizens on social media gushed over Malone and Tommy’s friendship. One user commented, “I’m pretty sure you have extended his life by a couple of years. He felt young again. It’s simply a wonderful story and I’m crying.”
Another comment read, “You gave him one of the best gifts. The gift of escaping loneliness at his old age. This is the most beautiful friendship story I have ever seen.”
Malone then replied to one comment asking her for an update on Tommy, with a video. The text on the video read, “98 years young” and shows Malone and Tommy sitting at the care home and talking to each other. Malone captioned the video saying, “He’s a wee legend.”
This led to netizens praising Malone for helping Tommy. One user said, “Thank you for being such a great friend to him.”
While other netizens chimed in to say Malone and Tommy’s story needs to be turned into a movie.
