Ed Bambas, an 88-year-old, has a heartbreaking story that has gone viral on social media. A video was shared on Instagram that revealed how the Army veteran has been working five days a week at a local grocery store to stay afloat. According to the video, he lost his pension 13 years ago, which led him to take a job as a cashier at the Meijer store in Brighton, Michigan.
The video revealed that despite his age, he is forced to work 40 hours a week because “he doesn’t have enough income.” His heartbreaking story quickly went viral on the internet, and good Samaritans stepped in to make sure Christmas came early for the veteran.
The Instagram video was shared by Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer. In the video, Bambas is seen saying, “I retired from General Motors in ’99. In 2012, they went bankrupt, and they took my pension away from me.”
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He further reveals that he was living a good life after his retirement. He had a stable financial support along with a good home. However, his life got completely derailed after his wife fell sick. With tears in his eyes, Ed Bambas told the influencer, “The thing that hurt me the most was when my wife was really sick and when they took the pension, they also took the healthcare coverage and all but $10,000 of my life insurance.”
The medical bill was huge, and he had no choice but to return to work at this age, just to “make it through.” At that time, he thought that his wife, Joan, who had been with him for more than 50 years, would “live the life he was hoping for” if he took care of things. However, she died seven years ago.
Speaking with WXYZ, the Army veteran admitted, “Once my wife died, I didn’t have enough income to pay for this place or all the other bills I had accumulated because of my wife’s illness.”
An 88-year-old veteran whose story went viral on TikTok has received over $745,000 in donations
Ed Bambas still works because he lost his General Motors pension after the company went bankrupt in 2012 and used up his life savings caring for his sick wife pic.twitter.com/KSGr5AAp9Y
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) December 2, 2025
“It wasn’t hard for me to do it because I knew I had to do it. “I’m fortunate God gave me a good enough body to be strong enough to stand there for eight, eight and a half hours a day,” he said in the video.
His story won the heart of Weidenhofer, who was shopping at the grocery store. He gave him a $400 tip and even started a GoFundMe page for others to come forward. As of Wednesday, the influencer has raised over $1.275 million on behalf of Bambas, who was happy and also surprised.
“It came out of the clear blue — I really, truly mean that,” he said. Even big names like Charlie Puth and Russell Dickerson came forward to spread the kindness. Bambas’ story has gained over 5 million views on TikTok. However, he has yet to see it, as he does not use “one of those fancy cellphones.”
“I still have a flip phone just to talk to people,” said Bambas.
