GRANDVILLE, Mich.-- A teenager with autism is getting ready to turn 16 this March and there's only one thing he wants from people around West Michigan.
Andrew Didyk seems like your average teenager when you meet him. He likes to produce music, listen to classic rock and spend time with his family. However, he says he's had it pretty rough.
"He has high functioning autism and oftentimes that can make social cues hard to understand," said his mother, Sarah Crofoot. "His birthday will come and we don't hear back from kids. It's a tough time."
Crofoot made aFacebook page asking the community to help give him a birthday this year that he deserves.
"I'll give out invitations to people and they'll say they're going to go, but then by the time it's that day I'll call them a bunch of times and either they're not coming or they're going to some other party," said Andrew Didyk. "It just doesn't pan out and you get really bummed. That's how I get sometimes."
To make this birthday the best one so far, his mom made a Facebook page asking the public to send Andrew birthday cards.
"I made this page in the hopes of making Andrew's birthday as special as he is," said Crofoot. "Birthdays are tough."
"I'm really hoping to get a lot of people that actually send me messages saying things like, 'I hope your birthday is the best of your life' or something like that," said Didyk.
Each card, as Andrew says, would turn his smile 'upside and around.'
"The number of cards people send is how many smiles on my face turn upside down, or upside around, I don't know," said Didyk.
If you want to send Andrew a birthday card, mail them to: Andrew Didyk, 3218 Arrowhead Arms Ct. SW, Grandville, MI, 49468.
