#HappyBirthdayJustin: Who is Justin G, why is Internet celebrating his birthday?
#HappyBirthdayJustin is trending on Twitter in the early hours of Sunday morning. The trend resulted from a video posted to a certain Justin G. A look at his Twitter bio reveals that he's an influencer raising awareness for 22q and has been featured in the media for his work a handful of times.
"Hey guys my name is Justin and I have a disability called 22q and my birthday is Monday. I don't want any gifts at all, all I want is millions and millions of birthday wishes from people from all over the world. That would be the best birthday gift that anybody could ever have and I hope this birthday wish could happen for me. My birthday is Monday so let's see if we can make this birthday wish happen for me because that would be the best birthday gift in the whole frickin world and I would be so so happy to have this happen for me," Justin said in the video that was posted to his page earlier this week. The video since then has accumulated a total of 1.1M views and has been retweeted 18.5K times and has some 42K likes on it.
What is 22q? According to 22qfamilyfoundation, 2 Deletion syndrome or 22q (also referred to as Velocardiofacial syndrome, VCFS, and/or DiGeorge syndrome) is a disorder caused by a small missing piece of the 22nd chromosome. This tiny missing portion of chromosome 22 can affect every system in the human body. 180 health issues are associated with the disorder which includes but not limited to growth delays, feeding problems, congenital heart disease, gastrointestinal difficulties, serious breathing concerns, cleft and craniofacial issues, calcium deficiencies, immune deficiencies, kidney problems, and skeletal anomalies. This list also includes the possibility of speech, developmental and cognitive delays, as well as ADHD, autism, and many anxiety-type disorders.
Good samaritans on the internet are helping Justin achieve his goal of receiving birthday wishes from people all around the world. Wishes have been pouring in from the UK, Switzerland, French Guiana, Sydney and Spain. Along with inspirational messages, people have also been sharing endearing photographs of their pets and you can check all of them over here.
We wish Justin a very happy birthday and hope he could continue raising awareness for 22q.