Thread: Boy with sick father turns to President Trump for help and gets touching response

Boy with sick father turns to President Trump for help and gets touching response

By christina capatides CBS News
March 28, 2018, 1:17 PM

Eight-year-old Fore Putnam has watched in silence for three years as his father, Trae, suffered through dialysis treatments and sat on the transplant wait list, hoping and praying for a new kidney. The North Carolina boy was powerless against the rare blood disease that rendered his father in complete renal failure. However, he's powerless no more.

Just before Christmas, with a little help from his grandmother, Fore penned three letters: one to President Trump, one to his daughter Ivanka, and one to Santa Claus.

In the letter to Mr. Trump, the little boy wrote, "My dad has been sick for a long time... I want him to get better, so he can get a job again so we can play. My mom just left, so if my dad gets better, she might come back... Please help my dad for Christmas. That's all I want for Christmas, and maybe one toy."

A few months later, to his grandmother's delighted surprise, a response arrived directly from the White House.

"I went to the mailbox and I got it out and it was in the official envelope," Fore's grandmother, Sheila Sherrill, told CBS News. "I really thought it's probably just a canned picture of him with some sort of canned response. But I called my son and told him that Fore had some mail here. And when we opened it, I was just in awe. As busy as presidents are, he took the time to write to an 8 year old that has such a heart for his dad."

In the letter, Mr. Trump expresses his sympathies for the family's predicament and tells the young boy, "I admire your determination to make sure your dad has the support and resources he needs to feel better."

Then, in what has become a glimmer of hope for the young family, the commander in chief writes: "I have shared your letter with my staff, and they are working to see what help they can provide."

"It really has given me hope," Trae Putnam told CBS News. "I've been on the kidney list for three years and you kind of feel helpless, just like I'm never going to get it. But all of the people that've responded to it on Facebook, and people calling. We've actually had a few people give us their information that are interested in maybe donating."

Trae says he had no idea that his son had written the letter and that his family was completely shocked by the response they got from President Trump "with a signature and everything."

"I just want people to know how proud I am of my son," Putnam said. "He's really special. He always thinks about everybody else more than he thinks of himself and that's rare for an 8 year old."

Maybe even rarer than receiving a personalized letter from the president of the United States.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-wit...uching-letter/

"I've been on the kidney list for three years and you kind of feel helpless, just like I'm never going to get it.

--------------------------------------

But they give PRIORITY to illegal aliens to get kidney's!!! And WE foot the entire hospital bill for it.


ASK PRESIDENT TRUMP HOW AN ILLEGAL ALIEN CAN SNEAK INTO OUR COUNTRY, GET FREE MEDICAL CARE AND FREE KIDNEY'S???

STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND GET THEM OFF OUR HEALTHCARE, WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, HOUSING, SCHOOLS AND OFF OUR ROADS!

DO NOT DETAIN...PROCESS AND DEPORT WITHIN 24 HOURS.

HAND THE SICK ONES OVER TO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS IN THEIR COUNTRY!

I guess I just don't understand. I've been on dialysis for about three years. When I see my doctor once a month, he asks if I want a transplant. I always say no. While it would be nice to not have to go through dialysis, being laid up after the surgery, the possibility of rejection, and the side effects of the anti-rejection drugs, are too many negatives for me. My doctor agrees.

I've been lucky for being unlucky. I do home dialysis now. When I was in the clinic, every other day, many of the other patients have major debilitations. My home nurse said she would not think anything was wrong with me if she hadn't seen my records.

My doctor says I could keep going like I am to 100, baring other complications. I was not new to dialysis when I started as I had a fellow truck driver who kept on going, and I had sat through a couple of sessions of hemodialysis with him. I never thought I could take those needles in me, but I did it for two years.

I don't know the circumstances for this guy, but it is mainly an inconvenience. I am "low energy", but I don't know if that is the disease or old age. Part is probably attitude. When I started home therapy, the machine failed the very first time. Although I was in pain, I didn't panic. My nurse and I called the company about the problem and they gave us the run-around. So bye-bye to that machine. Since I am somewhat of a data freak, I give her a lot of details on what the machine is doing throughout the sessions. She kind of uses me as a test dummy to develop new techniques. It turns out that others had the same problem with that first machine with major complications, The company finally recalled it about two weeks after we gave it back to them.

When I first started treatment, some guy I was talking to said commit a crime and you move to the front of the line for transplants. I wonder if that would be ahead of illegal aliens?