At Rohkaisijat, we often hear how enormous an impact a single message of encouragement can have. Often, the messages affect the child, but they also support the parents. We had the opportunity to interview a mother who was willing to share her family’s story. The child had been struggling with a challenging situation for a long time, but an Encouragement Message received at just the right time has still been a tremendous help. The mother’s story has been written in narrative form, in her own words, about their troll family, while respecting everyone’s anonymity.

“This is the story of a troll family, more specifically a troll mother and a troll boy, who received a Very Meaningful Encouragement. The troll boy was born long-awaited and – as luck would have it – with serious illnesses. The illnesses affected the troll family’s life in many ways. Because of them, there were many things, even ordinary ones, that the troll family could not do. However, one thing that brought them joy was following sports. They could do that together from home, if leaving the house was difficult.

The troll boy’s illnesses took a really sad turn. They were treated incorrectly for a long time, and they became much worse. In the end, the troll boy’s condition became so bad that he could no longer live at home and had to go to a care facility. It was truly sad for everyone.

At first, the troll boy was in a good care facility. After a little while, he was moved to another, cheaper care facility. There they didn’t know how to help him, and the troll boy began to feel worse again. The situation started to look truly grim. Would the troll boy ever recover? Would he be able to come back? The troll boy missed home deeply too. A great worry was present all the time.

In the middle of the awful situation, Troll Mother heard about the possibility of asking for Encouragement. She decided to take the offer right away and asked for one for the troll boy. Just general encouragement, to help with setbacks and challenges, so that the troll boy’s fragile situation would not be revealed.

One time, Troll Mother was picking up food supplies when a notification sound came through. Troll Mother could not believe that they had received a message from Rohkaisija. And what a message it was! The troll boy was greeted by name. Wow! Could this be possible: the troll family had been thought of, and Rohkaisija wished the troll boy well?! It felt unbelievable.

Troll Mother of course wanted to show the message to the troll boy, to whom the encouragement was directed. The timing had to be right for that, and Troll Mother and the troll boy had to be in the same place. While waiting for such a moment, Troll Mother read through the message. Hope. That was what the encouragement brought to the mother.

The next time they visited the care facility, Troll Mother and the troll boy looked at the message. Troll Mother had to stand behind the troll boy so that the tears would not show. And yes, the message really had been made just for the troll boy.

For a long time, no one knew how the troll boy would fare. Whether he would make it through this, and how long it would take. Even though there were no answers, they could return to the encouragement message. Troll Mother spent a lot of time at the care facility, and sometimes the troll boy got to visit home. In both places, both of them returned to the message. “Mom, let’s look at the encouragement message again,” the troll boy said. It made a big difference that it existed. It carried them.

Time passed, and the troll boy’s illnesses were finally treated correctly. The road to recovery began. Where did they get strength during that time? As expected, from the encouragement message.

During the recovery period, things took a fortunate turn. Something they had not even dared to hope for. The troll family decided to try whether they could go in person to watch Rohkaisija’s event. Would the troll boy have the energy, would he be able to leave the care facility — there were many questions. The troll family would try. And as luck would have it: just before game day, Troll Mother happened to see Rohkaisija. Troll Mother gathered her courage, went over, and said she was the troll boy’s mother and would be coming with him to watch the game.

The troll boy was able to go and met Rohkaisija in person. Rohkaisija was wonderful, as you might expect. He met the troll boy and focused on him. Oh, what a highlight that was! Together with the encouragement message, it remains a special memory for the troll family. For a long time during recovery, perhaps even forever.

At the moment, the troll family is doing well; above all, the troll boy is doing fairly well. And this story does not end there — it continues. Rohkaisija could not have guessed in advance what he was doing. Hopefully now he knows what he helped create. Thank you!”