By Renate Mousseux

Once upon a time there was a house named “Loretto 8,” a great three-story home to three different families.

On the first floor lived a family who had a grocery store. The family had two daughters, Uli and Margie. On the second floor, the owner of the house lived with his beautiful wife Rita and two daughters Gabi and Suzie. On the third floor lived a lady with her niece, Renate, “moi.”

Everybody got along great, all the girls were friends, and are still friends to this day! I moved to America, but we are all still in very close contact.

To my great joy, they all visited me on different occasions in the States. In the USA, I became a foreign language teacher, German and French. Usually, I traveled to Germany once a year at the end of my guided Educational Tours. I have retired since and not traveled because of my health conditions.

Uli married, moved to Switzerland, and became the owner of a successful dental laboratory. Margie took over the grocery store. Gabi graduated with a doctorate in Indology. Suzie moved and worked in another city, married, and had a wonderful son.

That great son is now an adult, successful, and has a family of his own. And low and behold, they have a beautiful son, Florian. He is lively and very intelligent, well spoken, and just an all-around great boy.

Suzie, the grandmother, is so very proud of Florian. Every long-distance phone call we had, she told me wonderful stories about her grandson. Until this one day: she called and related to me that Florian, 6 years old by now, has developed cancer, Leukemia.

We were all extremely touched and saddened by this sad news. He is in and out of the hospital and receives chemotherapy. The parents and family deal courageously with the situation. But the real hero is Florian who still smiles and submits to all treatments as required.

The nurses love Florian and are so impressed. They insisted to take a photo with him because he is such a wonderful young patient. He explained in detail to his parents and grandmother what medications he needs to take and their effects. Florian is amazing, he pays careful attention to all instructions given by the doctors. In the recreation room he has a tricycle, which he loves and uses. He races around with it so fast that the father has the hardest time following him with the transfusion stand.

There is also a girl who was also just admitted with leukemia. They befriended each other.

I thought maybe a bandana would cheer Florian up a bit, he could be a little “German Bandana Cowboy.” I live in Arizona, where I see many cowboys. I sent him a red bandana like theirs, and yes, I was right: he did like my present.

My friends sent me a great photo of Florian proudly wearing the bandana. What a joy!!!

If I win a prize for this true story I will forward the entire $ amount to little Florian to fulfill any wish of his.

My wish is also that this story will have a happy ending like all stories beginning with “once upon a time.” The great difference is: The above is a true, real-life story and not a fairy tale!

For all of you who pray, please do so.

For people with strong mental abilities, send positive energy please.

 

Who Is Your Hero? I bet you have a story!

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