When Shahzeb Anwer was married on May 22 in his home country of Pakistan, all of Birmingham, Alabama was invited. The 31-year-old came to Alabama to get surgery for hyperparathyroidism because it was not available in Pakistan; UAB hospital's quote was much less than other places. Setting out to learn more about Alabama, a state he'd never even heard of, he received an overwhelming response on various websites. "People responded in a way that I wouldn't even expect from my own people in Pakistan," he said. His time in Birmingham, the first time being out of Pakistan, became his home away from home. After the surgery successfully resolved his medical problems, he headed back to Pakistan. But Birmingham had become part of his life. So when he found out he would soon be getting married, he posted the invitation in the Reddit group that helped him.

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