The note attached to vehicle after the tyres were slashed. Photo / Supplied
A Wellington man suffering chronic illness is blown away by a stranger who helped him get new car tyres after his old ones were slashed.
Josh Carwell-Cooke, 30, suffers from inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis and diabetes and was admitted to hospital more than 30 times last year.
This Christmas, Mr Carwell-Cooke and his partner Amber Proudfoot, 23, were planning to visit family in Palmerston North, Hawkes Bay and Waikato.
However, their plans were endangered when Mr Carwell-Cooke's car, parked outside his central Wellington house, had its tyres slashed over the weekend, leaving him devastated.
"Everything was going wrong and the tyres were a cherry on top," he said.
He resorted to taking a taxi to work at $20 a pop.
Mr Carwell-Cooke admitted the past two years were tough on him and his partner Amber.
"It's been really tough. My partner has had to carry a lot of the burden."
He was unemployed until June this year when he got a job as a security officer at Recon Security.
Luckily, neighbour Rose Moore, who had never met the couple, saw a note written by Mr Carwell-Cooke while on her way to work.
She said it broke her heart.
"It broke my heart a little bit that such awful stuff could be happening in my neighbourhood, let alone New Zealand", she told Newstalk ZB.
"I though gosh, wouldn't it be nice to do something about that?"
She did just that.
Ms Moore had her partner take a photo of the note as she had already walked past the car.
She then used the "power of social media" and posted the photo of the note on the Beaurepaires Facebook page.
The tyre company responded quickly, and by that afternoon, the couple's car was sporting brand new tyres.
Mr Carwell-Cooke said he was blown away by the act of kindness from his good-hearted neighbour.
"I'm speechless. I'm so grateful. I just didn't expect this to happen at all," he said.
"It feels lovely with a little bit of effort I've managed to make a big difference to someone," Ms Moore said.
Initially the company had accidentally charged Ms Moore $60 each for the four tyres, however she was quickly refunded by the company.
The couple had discovered this act of kindness with their friend tagging them in the Facebook post.
"She was so blown away that someone had taken a little bit of time to see if they could right some wrongs."
Ms Moore also received a message from the man's mother thanking her for her kindness.
She said she didn't expect the reactions she had received on social media.
"I know there are people out there who do many more amazing things in the community that go unnoticed.
"So to do one small thing and to have it blow up like this seems a little unfair."
Beaurepaires digital marketing executive Annabel Henderson-Morrell told Newstalk ZB Ms Moore's post for help had "jumped out" to the tyre company.
"It's such a crappy thing to happen to go outside and all your tyres have been slashed on your car.
"The fact that she saw that on her neighbour's vehicle and wanted to do something jumped out to us," she said.
She said the good deed had helped spread the Christmas cheer.
"We were kind of giggling about what it might be like for the car owner to go back and see the replaced tyres on there instead of the slashed ones."
The Facebook post had gone "crazy" overnight, said Ms Henderson-Morrell.
"There's so many warm fuzzies," she said.
Many users had praised the company and it even seemed to have gained new customers.
A user commented, "Will be going to Beaurepaires to get my next set of tyres! Awesome to see them helping others out! Merry Christmas!!," Ms Henderson-Morrell said
A proud employee of the company even commented on the page, "I am also super proud to be working for a Kiwi-owned company that does actually care about the people and fitting tyres to people's lives not just their cars ... yeah maybe some competitors have a "cheaper" option but they sure as heck don't have hearts of gold like Beaurepaires do. Merry Christmas to this family and hope all goes well with the new ones xox," she said.
The company had also offered Mr Carwell-Cooke a "free pamper" for his car and he would be going in to get a wheel alignment free of charge.