How an online stranger came to one family's rescue to replace a beloved broken dinner plate
When Tamar Dubin accidentally broke her brother Daniel's favorite plate, her heart shattered as quickly as the precious piece of dinnerware.
This wasn't just a regular plate that could easily be replaced. Daniel, 19, has autism, and the plate, which features characters from the television show "Dragon Tales," was one of his most prized possessions and had helped him communicate.
"'Dragon Tales' is one of his favorite shows," Tamar said, noting he often likes to draw and paint characters from the show and other programs. "He takes a lot of what he says from that show, and when mom found that plate originally, it was the only thing he used."
Tamar says Daniel was sad at first and would "rountinely ask our mother, 'Where is Daniel's plate?' and 'When is Daniel's plate coming?' I think she tried to explain that he could use a regular plate for now, reassuring him that it was 'OK,' but I think he was still pretty devastated and confused."
"[The plate] was a thing that he really connected to," she added. "Something from his world into something more tangible that we can also see."
Nobody in the Dubin family knew what to do. The plate was no longer in production and there was no trace of replicas on the internet. But Tamar refused to take no for an answer.
"I [promised] I would get the new plate. And my mom was like, 'I really don't think you can do it, but I understand that you're really sorry," she said. "And I'm like no, I'm determined. I'm going to get it no matter what."
Tamar eventually turned to Reddit, explaining her situation and hoping that at least one person would know how she could get her hands on the rare plate. Fortunately, her post landed in Forrest Markham's feed.
"I saw it, and I was like, 'That's so funny, I have that plate,'" he told "GMA." "And then I was about to keep scrolling and I was like, 'Wait a second ... I wonder if my mom still has this."
Markham immediately texted his mom, and upon getting confirmation that she still had the plate, he drove to get it from her and went about sending it to the Dubin family -- via express shipping and at no cost to Tamar, who offered to pay him multiple times.
"It's better just for him to have the plate than anything else," Markham said. "I just get the warm fuzzies inside just thinking about it, so that's good enough payment!"
The whole Dubin family was happy to see Daniel's reunion with the plate, and both his sister and mom made sure to publicly thank Markham on Reddit.
Daniel's reaction to receiving a new plate? Tamar said that he was relieved that everything was "back in its rightful place" again.
"[Daniel's] world was really taken from him," Tamar said. "The Reddit community was really supportive for the most part, everybody was really great about it.
"It was insane -- I started crying on the phone with my mom, tears coming down my face."
