A woman who sent text messages to her late father’s phone every day for four years got the ‘shock of her life’ when she got a response.
Chastity Patterson, 23, sent her father Jason Ligons updates on her life as a way to keep his memory alive. On Thursday, she sent a message to him on the night before the fourth anniversary of his death, saying: ‘Hey Dad, it’s ME. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again!’
She sent him a long text mourning her father’s passing and mentioning her triumphs including graduating college and beating cancer. So when a man named Brad responded, Chastity said she was ‘shocked and touched’.
The man had lost his own daughter in 2014 in a devastating car crash. He said he had been reading her messages every day, saying they had ‘kept me alive’.
Brad’s message read: ‘Hi sweetheart, I am not your father, but I have been getting all your messages for the past four years. ‘I look forward to your morning messages and your nightly updates. ‘My name is Brad and I lost my daughter in a car wreck August 2014 and your messages kept me alive. ‘When you text me, I know it’s a message from God. ‘I’m sorry you lost someone so close to you, but I have listened to you over the years and I have watched you grow and go through more than anyone. ‘I have wanted to text you back for years, but I didn’t want to break your heart.’ He added: ‘You are an extraordinary woman and I wish my daughter would have become the woman you are, thank you for your everyday updates, you remind me that there is a God and it wasn’t his fault that my little girl is gone.’
The man signed off by saying he was sorry, telling Chastity: ‘I am very proud of you.’
The daughter shared her messages on Facebook, saying the response from Brad was a sign that ‘everything is okay’ and her father is at peace.
She said Jason, who was not her biological father, ‘never missed a school dance, prom, my games’.
Chastity said: ‘I’ve cried with him, told him everything and even became very independent because he took the time to love me and show me what happiness looks like. ‘SO YES Jason was my father but he was a role model for many kids in our town.’
