Aussie Boy Sends Heartfelt Thanks to the Prophet

By Samantha Orth

Looking at Benjamin, you would think he’s a normal 10-year-old. He plays soccer, basketball, catches lizards and snakes, and loves to eat, especially pizza! Ben’s life has been extremely full, with love of life and adventure.

However, Benjamin also has a heart condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Basically, he has half a heart.

The three surgeries needed were long, hard, and required his heart to stop beating in order for the surgeons to operate on him so that he could live. This required the use of the heart-lung machine for the surgeries to be successful.

So, when Sister Joy D. Jones and Sister Bonnie H. Cordon visited the Ipswitch West Stake for our activity for the drought stricken struggling farmers, he had a letter ready to give to Sister Jones to give to President Russell M. Nelson, thanking him for his contributions to the heart community.

Part of Ben’s letter reads:

“I have HLHS, but I still get to do all the things I love, except rugby. I wanted to say thank you for all your hard work helping people like me. Mum told me that you helped to build a machine to help people like me so we could have the surgeries we need to live. Thank you. When I had my Fontan surgery, I knew I would be OK because Heavenly Father told me I would be. I’m thankful for the gospel and the peace it brings to me.”

Sister Jones promised Ben that she would deliver the letter personally to the prophet. Ben felt so blessed to have met and spoken to both Sister Jones and Sister Cordon.