Today’s the day I start the big diet,” I told my wife and promised, “No chocolate today!” “Oh, has the hospital gift shop stopped selling Three Musketeers bars?” she asked, referring to my favourite candy bar. “No,” I said, letting my belt out an extra notch. “I’ll just have to rely on some willpower.”

But when I arrived at the hospital and found my little friend Benton had been admitted again, I knew my candy pledge would quickly melt. Because if Benton had things his way, I’d be eating a piece of candy from his bottomless bag. Benton Regello was an eight-year-old boy who was blinded by a tumour when he was fifteen months old.

For the next twenty-six months, he was in and out of our hospital for chemotherapy and surgeries. During that time, he made countless friends. And our staff believed that Benton was going to beat his disease. “He was just a regular little boy,” recalled one of the nurses, “only he learned his ABCs in Braille.”

For nearly four years, it seemed as though Benton was beating the odds, until one Friday afternoon, he developed a headache and lost movement on his right side. Tests revealed a large tumour had haemorrhaged and caused a stroke.

Over the next several months, Benton came to our hospital many more times with his mother. Each time one of his caregivers would say hello, Benton

answered the greeting by dipping into his candy sack and holding out Hershey’s kisses. — Beliefnet.com