Oklahoma restaurant gets help on TikTok after temporarily closing as owners’ 3-year-old son battles rare infection
By Carl Samson
An Asian restaurant in Oklahoma City has received overwhelming support on TikTok after a passerby took to the platform to share its temporary closure because the owners’ son was in the emergency room.
The TikTok video, which was posted by @thisisoklahoma405, shows Tokyo Moon in North Rockwell Avenue and West Hefner Road departing from its usual 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. schedule to deal with the situation. A sign attached to its front door apologized for the closure and announced that “Our son is in the E.R.”
As it turned out, 3-year-old Grayson Pham has been in and out of the E.R. for the past two weeks due to a rare infection. Because his parents are the restaurant’s lone employees, they have had no choice but to close temporarily.
Grayson’s parents have since been stressed about the mounting medical bills — until their story made it to TikTok.
“I had a regular customer message us asking how Grayson was and they sent us a link to TikTok,” Grayson’s father, Daniel Pham, told KOCO 5 News. “I clicked on it, and it had like four million views. It all came from a person named Jacob.”
He added, “I don’t know this person, Jacob. It was just a random act of kindness. He was passing by our restaurant going to the donut shop and saw the sign and he wanted to do something about it.”
As of this writing, the TikTok post has amassed 7.6 million views, more than 800,000 likes and over 1,800 comments. Many sent prayers and expressed support for Tokyo Moon, but some also left “rude” and “inhuman” comments.
“Some people seem to think [that] a business is more important than family, and in this case, a 3-YEAR-OLD son,” the @thisisoklahoma405 team wrote on the fundraiser’s GoFundMe page, which they created for the Pham family. “The family is DEVASTATED and HURT over the rude and inhuman comments. The good news is there seems to be way more positive than good … which is why the THISISOKLAHOMA405 team created this GoFundMe.”
The team said 100 percent of the funds will go to the Pham family. So far, the campaign has raised $3,345 for Grayson’s E.R. bills.
Grayson has since returned home to continue treatment. In an update, the @thisisoklahoma405 team also announced that Tokyo Moon will re-open “later this week.”
“I feel very blessed and thankful for all the thoughts and prayers from everyone just trying to help us through this tough time,” Daniel told KOCO 5 News.
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