A truly amazing story of friendship between a weightlifting “beast” and a precious little beauty is going viral. David “The Beast” Douglas is an ex-Marine who stands six feet tall, almost 330 pounds and can lift 770 pounds. Douglas admits he learned the definition of true strength from 12-year-old Lindsay Ratcliffe who suffers from a rare disease.
Videos by InspireMore
“The Beast” met and befriended Lindsay Ratcliffe at the Relentless Powerlifting Competition in Minnesota, US, as part of the “Strong Men & Women. Stronger Kids” campaign. Lindsay suffers from progeria, a rare disease that ages those affected by six to eight times the normal rate, as well as stunting growth and hardening the arteries.
David “The Beast” Douglas Instagram
Douglas refers to Lindsay as his little sister. “A beacon of light in this seemingly dark world. My beautiful little sis!!” Douglas captioned one image on his Instagram page.
Douglas has also been a big part in Lindsay’s fundraising campaigns and charity walks.
David “The Beast” Douglas Instagram
A video of the two shared by Entertainment Daily has received over 21 million views. Douglas commented on the video being shared saying, “I want nothing more than the focus to be solely on Lindsay and her story, along with Relentless charity organization where we met. Rare diseases like Progeria don’t always get enough light on them as they need.”
“A leave no man behind type attitude should apply towards all children who NEED our help. They are our next generation,” Douglas added. “When I look at Lindsay I am passionate about that.”
“She has humbled me into a man who realizes anything you are going through can be beaten by your mindset and how you look at it, always extracting the positive from the negative. That is the only way that you can life a full life.”
See the touching story in the video below.
Share their beautiful friendship.
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