A Heart-Warming Tale of a Tik Tok Rant Gone Right

Last year an American ultra-marathon runner who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, Jimmy Choi, posted a rant on Tik Tok. He spoke how it was ridiculous that the pills he takes to help control the symptoms of Parkinson's were tiny. This meant he struggled to take them due to the symptoms of Parkinson's.

Brian Alldridge, who up to that point was best known for reading facts on social media from Snapple lids, saw the rant and decided to help.

He taught himself how to use a free 3D design tool and designed a prototype for a pill bottle that would dispense a single pill at a time that could be taken, "like throwing a shot back". The trouble was he had no way to produce it.

This time Brian went on Tik Tok and asked if someone with a 3D printer could help. It turned out that a lot of people could help.

He took the prototype back to Jimmy and has been refining it to incorporate Jimmy's suggestions. In the meantime he has made the design freely available to all and owners of 3D printers have been printing bottles for people with Parkinson's worldwide. They have done this at cost price or even for free in many cases.

Brian is now working on a version of the bottle that can be made using injection moulding so it can be produced even more cheaply.

Social media need not be about us ranting to each other or showing off. It can also be used to make the world a better place like Brian and Jimmy have showed us.

At Thank And Praise we believe that we can do something to make people's lives just a little bit better too. Take the opportunity to thank an unsung hero today.

In the spirit of thanking people, we would like to thank Subhrajyoti Saha from India for the picture used to illustrate this story.