KATY, Texas – It was a small gesture from a dad to his daughter that is giving the internet all the feels.
A Katy father, who was laid off a year ago and has a disability from an accident years ago, saved up the change he could to buy his daughter coffee.
Morgan Porterfield, 17, got home from work last week when her dad told her there was a present on her bed for her.
“I said OK and I went in there and there was a little pill bottle filled with change and a little note and it said $11.19 and had the date and coffee money with a heart next to it,” explained Porterfield who just recently graduated from Taylor High School in Katy. “I couldn’t help but tear up, so I posted the picture of it on Twitter and I said my father is disabled and he’s been saving his pocket change for me and try to show the love he showed me. I had no idea it would get as big as it did.”
The tweet took off and has been spread across the world.
As some know my dad is mentally and physically handicapped and so especially now that he’s older he’s unable to work or earn an income but he’s been saving his pocket change for the past month for some reason and I thought nothing of it til I came home from work to this today❤️ pic.twitter.com/rdEqu6u8rf
— Morgan Porterfield 💍 (@morganp_2018) June 2, 2018
“She was telling me she likes to go to Starbucks (and) I knew she didn’t make a lot of money ... I was going to do what I could to help her,” Jim said.
In 1981, a drunk driver hit Jim Porterfield in a head-on-collision that left him in a coma for six weeks. He had more than a dozen surgeries and was left with mental and physical disabilities.
“He (the driver) did some pretty serious damage and I had head injuries," Jim said.
The father of four said he’s glad to be alive.
“I’m grateful, supposedly I was supposed to lose both legs,” Jim said. “I’m very thankful that the Lord has blessed me and with some wonderful kids.”
He said Morgan has been helping him dress the wounds on his legs and he just wanted to leave a gift to show her that he’s thankful.
“I just want to let her know I appreciate her and I love her and she cares about her dad. It’s very obvious,” explained Jim.
Morgan said she wanted to share the picture of her dad’s gesture on Twitter, but never expected the picture to make the rounds on the web.
“I just think there’s so much craziness going on in the world right now that it really warms people's hearts to see good people in the world and people are able to touch them ... and I’m glad I could share his story for others because he touched my life,” she said.
The family has a GoFundMe page to help with Jim’s medical expenses, since he can't work right now.