This is an amazing story between Tanner Wilson and Brandon Qualls, who have just reminded everyone else out there about the power of true friendship and how big of a difference it can create in someone else’s life. The pair are both students and have been close friends for years, from Caddo Hills High School, Norman, Arkansas.
For the last two years, Tanner has been working part-time in a local car shop, just to save enough money to buy an electric wheelchair for his best friend. Brandon has been struggling, using a manual hand-push wheelchair to push himself in and out of the school halls ever since. “My arms would get really tired,” Brandon told News9 TV.
Tanner surprised Brandon with the new electric wheelchair in front of all their classmates – which shocked him to no end! “They came in and my face just blew up,” Brandon told News9. “I was just crying everywhere. I was like, ‘Wow I can’t believe he did that for me.’
“It’s been my dream to just have one of these,” Brandon said. “And my dream came true.”
When asked why Tanner went above and beyond to save up and buy his best friend such a wonderful gift, he said: “He’s just been a really good friend and I wanted to do him a favor,” Tanner said. “I just felt like I needed to do it. … Brandon, he’s just always been there for me.”
Colleen Carmack, Tanner’s mother told CNN that her son “had some bad experiences over the last year, so him being able to help somebody else has really brought him out — being able to know that he made a difference. And I can see a difference in him — like wanting to get out and do more. We’re talking about college. He’s had that goal, but he’s talking about it more now.”
The pair’s teacher, Kathy Baker told kark.com that this selfless behaviour of Tanner is not out of the norm. “He loves to do for others,” Baker said. “He is just a great young man.”
Tanner simply wishes “people would care more about others, than just themselves.”
His selfless act is already creating longterm benefits amongst their other classmates, with a lot of the other students asking him… ‘Was it worth it? Was it worth it?’ “Yeah,” Tanner told them. “100%.”
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