Sister appeals for people to help autistic brother with 'no friends' celebrate his 21st birthday

'James has no friends and it breaks our hearts,' she says in emotional Facebook post

James Weir will celebrate his 21st birthday on 30 November (Lucy Weir/Facebook)

The sister of a young man who is nearing his 21st birthday took to social media to ask strangers to send him birthday cards, as he has “no friends”.

Lucy Weir made a birthday appeal for her little brother James on Facebook on Monday evening.

“James has Autism and this makes it difficult for him to make friends and socialise,” Ms Weir wrote on Facebook.

“He gets anxious in social situations and finds it hard to communicate effectively with others. Sadly, James has no friends and it breaks our hearts.”

“So, I have come up with an idea/surprise for his birthday. I wondered if you kind folk out there will share this post and send James a birthday message or card.

“Even if he only got a few I know he'd be over the moon!”

She has since been inundated with hundreds of messages after the post was picked up by the Manchester Evening News.

It has since been shared widely on Facebook. One user, James Schumacher, wrote: “I'm dropping James' card in the post today. It might take a bit to get there from the United States.”

Mr Weir currently attends a college in Bolton, but was told he would not be able to follow his dream of studying astronomy because of his autism.

“He will be over the moon with all this attention, I can see him smiling for days,” Ms Weir said.

“He’s always wanted to do something to go viral.”