For four years, Chastity Patterson sent messages to her late dad’s old phone number without ever expecting anyone to answer.

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The texts had become a way of keeping him close, allowing her to share everything from the everyday moments to some of the biggest milestones of her life.

Then, one day, somebody replied.

Patterson, from Arkansas, had continued texting the number following the death of the man she considered her father, Jason Ligons.

Four years after his passing, she sent another emotional message ahead of the anniversary of his death.

“Hey Dad, it’s ME. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again!”, Patterson wrote back in 2019.

What followed was a deeply personal update on everything that had happened since she lost him.

She told him that she had finished college and graduated with honours, fallen in love, had her heart broken and eventually picked herself back up.

Patterson also told him she had beaten cancer and had been taking better care of herself, just as she had promised.

She wrote about losing friends, hitting rock bottom and finding somebody who came into her life and helped her through it.

There were lighter moments in the message too, including an admission that she still drove her mum “crazy” and that her “smart mouth and attitude” hadn’t changed.

Patterson ended the lengthy update by telling her dad how much she loved and missed him.

She had been sending messages like these for years.

But this time, her phone lit up with an answer.

“Hi sweetheart, I am not your father, but I have been getting all your messages for the past 4 years. I look forward to your morning messages and your nightly updates,” the reply began.

The man introduced himself as Brad and revealed there was a heartbreaking reason Patterson’s messages had meant so much to him.

“My name is Brad and I lost my daughter in a car wreck August 2014 and your messages have kept me alive,” the message continued.

Brad explained that he had been receiving Patterson’s texts throughout those four years and had followed the updates she continued sending to her dad.

“When you text me, I know it’s a message from God. I’m sorry you lost someone so close to you, but I have listened to you over the years and I have watched you grow and go through more than anyone.”

Perhaps most remarkably, Brad revealed that he had considered responding before: “I have wanted to text you back for years, but I didn’t want to break your heart.”

He went on to tell Patterson how proud he was of the person she had become and said her messages had helped him while dealing with the loss of his own daughter.

“You are an extraordinary woman and I wish my daughter would have become the woman you are,” he wrote.

Brad even finished his emotional response with a lighter reference to one of Patterson’s updates.

“P.S. I think your father would be happy to know you bought another dog instead of having children,” he wrote, before adding: “Take care and I look forward to your updates tomorrow.”

Patterson subsequently shared screenshots of the extraordinary exchange on Facebook.

“I text my dad every day to let him know how my day goes, for the past four years!” she wrote.

“Today was my sign that everything is okay and I can let him rest!”

The post struck a chord online, amassing more than 285,000 shares in a matter of days.

Patterson later explained more about her relationship with Ligons, revealing that although he wasn’t her biological father, he had been the father figure in her life since she was a child.

“He never missed a school dance, prom, my games and YES he would give me long talks about my mouth and attitude. I had to introduce my boyfriends to him (If I was allowed to date) and he would act like a normal dad and give us the long talk,” she wrote.

For Patterson, their relationship wasn’t defined by biology.

“I’ve cried with him, told him everything and even became very independent because he took the time to love me and show me what happiness looks like.

“I shared my messages for my friends and family to see that there is a God and it might take four years, but he shows up right on time!”

What Patterson believed had been a private ritual between herself and the dad she missed had, unbeknown to her, been reaching another grieving parent all along.

Chastity has since shared on Instagram that she has become a mother, and married her long-term partner, Demarcus.

Featured image credit: Instagram/@_csweets_