What a wonderful story on your Sunday, Oct. 12 front page called Leo's Story! Thank you for sharing it with your readers. From start to finish, we felt like we were part of the story and were cheering for the little guy. Our hearts were filled with emotion over the kindness of so many along his life path and especially for the young missionary couple, Ladd and Carley Serwat, who stepped up in faith and in action.

I cannot imagine how caring is the young man named Alex who committed a year of his young life to be by this little boy's side through so many new experiences. I'm sure he, too, must miss his Burundian family and his country and kinsmen.

As a friend of the family, I have had occasion to meet both Leo and Alex these past few days and I thought your readers would enjoy knowing more about this little 4-year-old boy and his caretaker.

Leo is a very normal little boy, full of energy and discovery and enthusiasm. He has learned many words in English, knows his colors, can count well, and loves meeting all the new people in his life. He seems oblivious to his pain and willingly submits each evening to Alex carefully cleansing his face, putting drops in his eyes as the eyelids are not completed yet, and replacing the strange looking band that holds everything in place so the skin does not stretch. His favorite food is pizza and he likes bread and rice and ice cream but considers tomatoes and carrots cautiously. He is affectionate and funny and bounces and dances to any rhythm.

Since he has been in Coeur d'Alene, Leo has had many new experiences - riding a tractor and a four wheeler, sitting on a horse, playing with kittens, finding colorful leaves and chestnuts, playing on drums, riding on strange play equipment in parks and watching TV; even pictures on the wall amaze him and he wants to know who the people are. He readily snuggles up with anyone who looks like a mom or a gramma for a book, or just to be close. He chases balls and seeks noisy toys. In other words, except for his extreme injuries and skin grafts, he is a normal 4-year-old boy.

Alex, his caretaker, is amazing. He is one of the most positive, patient, encouraging young man I have ever seen. His love, concern and understanding for Leo is profound and intimate. They do high fives and the "bump butt thing" to celebrate accomplishments. Alex doesn't seem to need a normal life; this is his life right now and he is totally committed to it. I read in the paper where he had a degree in psychology; I'm sure he is using some of those things he learned with Leo. However, I for one observer, would like to see such a fine young man go on in his education and become trained even more to work with people. Of course, that is not likely since he will return to his third world country where his family is also poor but happy.

If some of your readers would like to donate to Alex's future education, I'm sure that Anthem Friends would be happy to set up an education fund for him. Of course, there are also many expenses outside of the free surgeries being done by Shriners Hospital in Boston. Often people want to know how to help; well I think, this would be a good way. Anthem Friends is located on Miles and U.S. 95 in Hayden.

Thanks for a great story, Coeur d'Alene Press.

Mary Lou Thompson is a Hayden resident.