Ben Carson evokes words of Ben Franklin in Canfield talk today

CANFIELD

A Salem man’s attendance this afternoon at private fundraiser in Canfield for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson was more than a display of political support.

It was a show of personal gratitude.

Sam Johnson said Carson operated on his son, Hayden, in 2008 after he was diagnosed in Youngstown with a brain tumor. After Johnson conducted a lengthy nationwide search, Carson agreed to do surgery on Johnson’s 15-month-old son. Hayden is now is 14, healthy and getting straight As in school, his father said.

Johnson was one of about 100 invited guests attending a fundraiser for the GOP candidate hosted by Dan and Christine Large.

During his talk in Canfield, Carson made an allusion to Benjamin Franklin and a book that the founding father wrote on ways to make a great state fall.

According to Johnson, Carson made comparisons to Franklin’s ideas to today’s political world in which he believes American government is failing its people.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.