Dying boy's wish is to set a world record

[Hum]

Under the Christmas tree was everything 9-year-old Dalton Dingus had hoped for -- an iPad and an iPhone, a big red toolbox filled with real tools just like his grandpa's, and a stack of Christmas cards nearly as tall he, each with the same wish: that he live to break a Guinness record, and for a long, long time after that.

For a month now, cards by the hundreds of thousands have come from all over the world -- well wishes and Christmas greetings from cities and countries the Kentucky boy had never before even heard of.

The cards have come from Germany and Ukraine, from South Carolina and South Korea. They're written in languages Dalton cannot speak, but they all deliver the same message, a wish that the little boy set a Guinness record for receiving most Christmas cards before he succumbs to a disease that has already made it virtually impossible for him to breathe.

As far as his mother, Jessica Dingus, is concerned, "It's a Christmas miracle."

At first, the cards came in slowly. A family friend had posted an appeal for well-wishes on Facebook. Dalton's mother would display them on the mantel and in his room beside his bed. Most came from neighbors and friends, a few from friends of friends.

That first post on Facebook went viral, spreading across the Internet, getting picked up by a local newspaper and other media.

Miss Kentucky showed up at Dalton's house in Salyersville, Ky., carrying some cards. So did a unit of Kentucky State Troopers and the star of Animal Planet's "Call of the Wildman."

By Wednesday, his mother estimated the boy had received 504,269 cards.

On Christmas Eve alone, the postal service delivered 30,000 individual letters, plus 1,972 packages, some of which were filled with cards and 55 express packages, said David Walton, a spokesman for the US Postal Service.

UPS and FedEx delivered hundreds more. Dalton has stage four cystic fibrosis. In October, his mother said, "Doctors had given up on him."

"We left the hospital to come home. They gave him two to eight days to live," Jessica Dingus told ABCNews.com

Dalton takes 18 different medicines every day, including "lots of pills and antibiotics," his mother said.

He goes through 12 liters of oxygen a day and wears a face mask to help him breathe, making him look like a miniature fighter pilot with an interest in coloring and playing with Lego blocks.

For weeks since the cards started coming, Jessica Dingus said, Dalton's health has improved.

"He's doing pretty good now," she said. "It's just been the best Christmas ever.

"He's excited for the first time in a long time," she said. "He's smiling more. He's laughing more, he's beginning to become how he was two years ago.

"I think just knowing people really do care for him, that the cards let him know people love him, it has all helped," she said.

Guinness does have an old record on the books. As of 1992, the last official time Guinness allowed for a Christmas card category, Canadian Jarrod Booth had collected 205,120.

To send Dalton a Christmas card, address it to: Dalton Dingus HC 62 Box 1249 Salyersville, KY 41465.

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[Growled Member]

Ah, that's terribly sweet. Poor little kid.

[Hum]

I suspect Love is the real cure. :happy:

[*RedBull*]

I suspect Love is the real cure. :happy:

Love makes things right, so let's make some.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Awesome! Good to see humans rallying together for a small ill child.

One thing i've got to say, Hum's signature under the image is a bit of bad placement :p

[Hum]

Boy Who Attempted Christmas Card Record Dies

Dalton Dingus, a little boy from rural Kentucky whose dying wish to set a record for receiving the most Christmas cards earned him support from around the world, has died. He was nine. :cry:

Dalton, who succumbed to a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis on Saturday, received more than 500,000 cards from all over the world, his family said.

At a funeral service on Wednesday, many of those cards decorated the Bethlehem to Cavalry Apostolic Church in Salyersvile, Ky., Kathy Smithers, a resident who attended the ceremony, told ABCNews.com.

"There were lots and lots of people there," said Smithers. "Members of the police department, and the fire department, and the sheriff. It felt like the whole town was here."

Dalton's illness, his positive attitude and his goal to set a Guinness World Record first inspired his neighbors in Salyersvile and then the world. A Facebook post asking friends to send cards to Dalton went viral, picked up by a local newspaper and then media from as far away as Israel and Ireland, South Dakota and South Korea.

http://gma.yahoo.com...topstories.html

[Growled Member]

R.I.P. little dude. Your battles are done.