Hollywood stars' birthday messages for Arnold teenager with autism

Daniel jumped up and down when his father showed him the messages

The father of a teenager with autism, who received birthday messages from Hollywood stars, said the global response "blew his mind".

Kev, from Arnold, Nottinghamshire, posted about his son Daniel's 15th birthday on Twitter.

He told followers Daniel had made two birthday wishes, which were to drive a car and to make friends.

The post attracted more than 50,000 comments including those from actors Mark Hamill and Russell Crowe.

Kev said his son "hasn't one friend" and has only ever been invited to three birthday parties.

"He goes to a school for children with special needs.

"He'll play in the playground but he doesn't play with anybody.

"He'll just stand on his own in his own little world and the other children do the same," he said.

'Couldn't believe it'

Kev said Daniel's autism makes it hard for him to communicate with others because conversation techniques do not come naturally to him.

He posted his son's birthday wishes on Twitter and his post went viral.

Kev said: "I posted something last year about Daniel's birthday and I got thousands of replies but nothing like this.

"I just couldn't believe it."

People from countries, including the US and Canada, sent thousands of birthday wishes in response to the tweet.

Film star Russell Crowe said "Happy Birthday Daniel", and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill posted a picture of himself as Luke Skywalker with the caption "the force is strong with this one" with a message saying "for my friend Daniel".

"Being a 52-year-old man who idolised Star Wars from eight years old, you can imagine how I felt - it literally blew my mind," Kev said.

Daniel also seemed to get excited by the messages.

Kev said: "When I showed him them, he jumped up and down."

He said the purpose of his post was to share Daniel's story and to connect with other families.