Last month, Garth Purkett, a Redfin writer and production designer (and local Seattle comedian), shared an unbelievable story on his Twitter account—the story of his best friend, Mike, getting stabbed in Los Angeles. It was the five-year anniversary of the stabbing when Garth decided to tweet the story, a story that starts with a tragedy and ends with one of the greatest and “pun-iest” acts of friendship.
The tweets were quickly picked up by Ishmael N. Daro, an editor at Buzzfeed, who turned the Twitter story into an article that was shared all over the internet. We sat down with Garth afterward to get more details on the story.
It was a normal Friday in L.A.; Garth’s friend Mike was with a large group of friends heading home from a night out. Mike and his friends were only two blocks away from home when a girl in the group was grabbed. A man attempted to mug her. The girl screamed and Mike stepped in to help. Mike, being around “5 foot 7 and like 120 pounds,” was not the most obvious choice of a savior, but that night he was. Mike stepped in. There was a confrontation, Mike hit the attacker, the attacker lunged into Mike and ran. Mike looked down and realized he had been stabbed.
Mike, Garth and Andy met their Freshman year of high school. All three Washington natives, the boys bonded over their love for punk and quoting “The Simpsons.” They stayed friends all throughout high school and college. Andy and Garth ended up joining the same fraternity at the University of Washington, while Mike went to Seattle University (just a few miles away). After college, Andy and Garth ended up living together, while Mike moved down to L.A. The friends kept in constant contact, often bonding by “playing Xbox live together. Killing zombies together,” according to Garth.
At 1 a.m. on that night in 2011, Andy and Garth heard the news of Mike’s stabbing. Mike had been rushed to the hospital. His kidney was lacerated and part of his colon had been removed.
The next day, the two friends booked a ticket out to L.A. Their flight didn’t leave for a few days and the two friends knew they wanted to bring Mike something to show him that they cared. The idea of a card signed by everyone came up. “I even thought about getting him a ton of his favorite candy, Snickers. A giant Costco Snickers bar. My dumbest idea was an ironic bag of kidney beans,” says Garth.
Then Andy came up with a brilliant idea. “‘A semi-colon tattoo.’ We both freaked out. It was the best idea,” said Garth. (Garth wants to let readers know that this was entirely Andy’s idea and Andy should receive full credit). Two days later Andy and Garth flew down with a surprise in store for Mike.
Before they saw Mike in the hospital, they ran into Mike’s mom and she was distraught. Andy and Garth simultaneously showed her their matching tattoos. “She was crying and laughing when she saw them.”
Then the two friends went in to see Mike. “It was overwhelming to see a friend hooked up to machines and in such a vulnerable state. Mike was still groggy from all the meds and the surgery. But the grog wore off, and Andy and I decided it was time. We hinted at the joke. You know since they had to take part of your colon out….” The men then revealed two matching semi-colon tattoos.
“It was great. Mike put his hand over his face and was coughing and laughing as much as he could. It was a nice sweet celebratory moment. We just wanted to show him how glad we were that he was alive,” says Garth.
Garth shared the story on Twitter, and it was picked up by Twitter Moments UK, who asked Garth if they could share it. From there it went viral. It was the top moment on UK Twitter. Then from there, it was picked up by The Chive, Buzzfeed, Daily Mail, The Sun and Today, just to name a few. Garth says he is just happy that Mike’s okay, and that he loves his best friends and they’re secretly hilarious.
The three friends are still in constant contact today and now experiencing a bit of fame. And back in 2014 Mike got the same semi-colon tattoo, thus bonding these best friends for life and creating a perfect end to the greatest pun ever.
What do you think of Garth’s story? Let us know in the comments below or Twitter @Redfin
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