When Sean Putt and his family walked into the Nationwide Children’s Mansfield location, he thought he was merely visiting his favorite “vampire” nurse, Amber Kindler Laney. Since his platelet count went up to an all-time high of 123,000 this week, Sean Putt wanted to see Amber since she has laughed and cried with the Putt family through his treatment.
He wanted to give her a hug as they celebrate a special week for him. Because his platelets are up, he will get to play soccer instead of sitting on the sidelines.
But that wasn’t the real reason for the visit. When Kindler Laney came out to the waiting room to see Putt another woman came in who he didn’t know. Her name was Melissa Hunt-Satterfield and she is the organizer of Cookies for iPads, a non-profit organization that gives iPads to autistic children.
“When the article came out on Sean, people started emailing me and calling me and asking if we could do something for him,” explained Satterfield.
At first she wasn’t sure they could pull it off right away, but then she planned an emergency bake-sale, which is how Cookies for iPads raises the funds to get iPads for children with autism.
“Even though we don’t normally give iPads to children who aren’t autistic, we decided to make an exception for Sean,” she explained.
Satterfield introduced herself to Putt and told him she had heard a lot about him. She handed him a gift bag and when he pulled out the iPad, he was one stunned and happy little boy. He shrieked with excitement.
Nurse Kindler Laney and Putt’s mother, Trisha Putt, had tears of joy today to offset so many tears of frustration from the past two years.
Putt will have the iPad for his weekly trips to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, and for all the waiting he does between his drug therapy and blood draws.
The Putt family said they can’t thank everyone enough for the outpouring of support for Sean and to Richland Source for raising so much awareness.
“I know next week we could be right back down with low numbers, but we are enjoying the good moments when we get them,” said Trisha Putt. “And this week was amazing.”
“I know next week we could be right back down with low numbers, but we are enjoying the good moments when we get them,” said Trisha Putt. “And this week was amazing.”
