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By SEAN BARRON
By Sean Barron
CANFIELD
For Sam Johnson, hearing Dr. Ben Carson speak did more than reaffirm for him that the Republican candidate would be the right choice for the 2016 presidential election.
Seeing the 64-year-old former neurosurgeon also struck a deep, personal chord.
“He operated on my son in 2008. Dr. Carson was the only one who would take us,” the Salem man said, referring to when he operated on Johnson’s 14-year-old son, Hayden, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 15 months. “We’re eternally grateful to the man.”
Johnson, who has worked in banking, got another opportunity to express such sentiments because he was among the estimated 100 invited guests who attended a 90-minute private fundraiser dinner for Carson on Sunday at Dan and Christine Large’s Berlin Station Road home. Tickets were between $250 and $2,700 a person.
The gathering was closed to the press and the general public.
Before Carson’s Mahoning Valley visit, he was among the Republican hopefuls who had taken part in Saturday’s final GOP debate in Manchester, N.H. The nation’s first 2016 presidential primary is Tuesday in New Hampshire.
Johnson noted that during the fundraiser, Carson paraphrased portions of Benjamin Franklin’s writings, in part of which he warned about ways a “great state” such as the U.S. can be destroyed or damaged. Much of what Franklin wrote about a few hundred years ago is happening today, said Johnson, who also came with his wife, Julie.
Johnson added that his son is well and earning straight A’s in school.
“He really cares about people, not political connections. He’s made a success of his life and is trying to change the country and get the U.S. back on track,” observed Joe Jasinski of Poland, who attended the event with his wife, Diane Johns.
Jasinski, a former assistant fire chief, said he admires how Carson was able to grow up in a poor, single-parent household in Detroit, yet go on to become a successful surgeon. In addition, Carson will move the country in the right direction, away from an “out-of-control government that’s too big,” Jasinski continued.
Johns added that she was bothered by Sen. Ted Cruz’s role in a series of calls his team had made to Carson supporters the night of the Iowa caucus claiming Carson was suspending his campaign. Carson also has sought an apology from CNN, saying the cable news channel inaccurately reported the claim.
The couple also took with them a copy of the 2009 movie “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as Carson.
Carson is in fourth place in national polls among the GOP candidates. In addition, he’s in last place of the eight Republican candidates in New Hampshire with 3 percent, according to www.realclearpolitics.com, a website that tracks polling data.
Providing security for Saturday’s fundraiser were the U.S. Secret Service, the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the University of Akron Police Department, which brought a bomb-sniffing dog.