Often, the most innocent among us, our children, also have
the biggest hearts. Not jaded by judgment or life in general, children
are more likely than adults to care and show selfless compassion. This
is most definitely the case in this heart warming story. One five
year-old is showing us what it means to truly put another before
ourselves. Prepare your Kleenex, because this one is a tear-jerker.
Charlotte “Charlie” Godish is an average American five
year-old girl, except for one thing — she’s completely selfless. Charlie
has a fraternal twin brother named Bradley. Although that isn’t odd in
and of itself, she is proving she’s exceptional. Her brother Bradley has
cancer, and not just any cancer. Bradley has an aggressive form of
leukemia that is definitely difficult to treat. Charlie did what not
many adults would do and donated a piece of herself to her brother so he
could have a chance at life.
Bradley and Charlie as babies
The selfless little girl chose, at five years-old, to donate her stem cells to her twin brother.
“What Charlie did for her brother and my wife and I was nothing short of amazing,” dad Brian Godish of Elgin, Illinois, told ABC News today. “For us to be fortunate enough for Bradley to have a twin sister who’s a perfect match; we were speechless. Not everyone is so lucky. We were almost at a loss for words as to how emotional it was.”
When Charlie was asked in January by her parents if she
would be willing to help her brother, she did not understand the medical
procedure involved, but the emotions were palatable, and she agreed to
help him no matter what. Even though she had no idea what it meant for
her. Charlie’s response was, “Yes. Just tell me when you need me.” They
needed her one month later to provide stem cells from her bone marrow to
save Bradley’s life.
“The procedure itself went just fine,” said Dr. Jennifer
Schneiderman, the twins’ transplant physician. “He [Bradley] had a high
risk feature to the leukemia, so a procedure was recommended. We look to
parents and siblings to see if they’re a match and Charlie, his sister,
happened to be a match. She [Charlie] gets general anesthesia and we
obtain the marrow. She doesn’t feel it at the time, but typically
patients will feel some soreness for 36 to 48 hours and then they’re
fine. We do about 60 transplants a year and I’d say about a quarter are
of brother and sister. As far as an age appropriate thing, she was very
eager to help him and said she would do whatever she needed to do.”
The surgery took place on February 17 of this year, and the
family is finally speaking out because they believe Charlie saved her
brother’s life. His cancer is in remission, and the two young children
have started Kindergarten together.
Charlie’s parents even reminisced about her recovery days.
Her father said she kept her bandage on her back for longer than
necessary because she was wearing it as a pseudo “badge of honor” for
helping her brother.
Kindness and compassion are in short supply in our society,
and amazingly, the most innocent among us can so many times show us how
to help and love unconditionally.
H/T [ABCNews]
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