Teacher Answers Holiday Wish Of Child Waiting For New Heart

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A Framingham teacher is answering a young boy's modest request for a little holiday cheer as he waits for a heart transplant at Boston Children's Hospital. Woodrow Wilson Elementary teacher Shannon Kessler is collecting Christmas cards to send to Carlos Rolon, and she's asked the entire school district to help out.

Rolon, 6, has been in the hospital since August, and will be there until a heart from a child donor becomes available. Kessler read about his request for holiday cards in the news, and his story hit a personal note for the 5th grade teacher.

"As an elementary teacher first, and a pancreas transplant recipient second, this story cuts right to my core. I know what that wait is like, as I, too, was in the hospital last year during the holidays, though my time was during my recovery and his is while he waits for a match to save him," Kessler wrote in a message sent to the whole district.

Kessler's students have made cards to send — and staff at the school are signing a card for him — but she wanted to make the effort district-wide to show Rolon how much support he has.

"I thought about just our school, but this boy deserves bigger," Kessler wrote to her colleagues.

Kessler will be collecting cards through Dec. 19, and plans to deliver them all to Rolon before Christmas.

Rolon has already had several surgeries to repair a heart defect. But he is now at a point where he needs an entirely new heart, according to WFXT. Rolon, who is from Worcester, has already received thousands of cards, according to his mother, Sheena Cossette.

But of course, he'll take as much holiday cheer as he can get. If you want to send a card, address them to:

Carlos Rolon
Boston Children’s Hospital Cardiac Unit 8 East
300 Longwood Ave., Boston