Reddit users send terminally ill man thousands of letters

Forty seven-year-old Scott Widak, an artist with down syndrome, looks at mail sent from a Redditor. To comfort Widak in his final days, his nephew, Sean O'Connor, posted a message on Reddit asking users to send his uncle mail. One of Widak's favorite things to do is open letters, Sean said. Keep clicking to see this outpouring of assistance from the Reddit community...

Widak had been diagnosed with sclerosis of the liver. Although the disease is typically caused by years of hard drinking, Widak's seems to be from a genetic abnormality, his nephew said. This is one of the boxes of mail that O'Connor and his family picked up from the post office.

Widak wears a Randy "Macho Man" Savage mask sent from a Reddit user. Savage was one of Widak's favorite wrestlers. Many Reddit users asked questions about Widak's favorite things so they could personalize packages for him.

O'Connor, who has used Reddit for five years, decided to ask Redditors to send mail to his uncle to keep his spirits up. "He gets tons of joy opening Comcast bills or phone bills," O'Connor told HealthPop. "He loves to do it with my grandmother using the letter opener."

After two weeks in the hospital, Widak's family decided to turn to in-home hospice care. Even though the entire family is supportive, it's still hard to care for someone in their final days.

"We feel like we're coping well and supportive, but there's still some challenging elements," O'Connor told CBS News.

Here's a book that a Reddit user sent in with a note.

Widak has only seen a handful of the thousands of letters and packages that have been sent because his condition has worsened. Each time he asks about his mail, the family pulls a letter out of a box and reads it to him.