This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The parents of a boy dying of non-Hodgkins lymphoma told the Republican National Convention Thursday how Mitt Romney took extraordinary steps to comfort their son and the family.
Ted and Pat Oparowski, a Mormon couple who met Romney in Massachusetts, said that Romney and his son, Tagg, visited frequently when their 14-year-old son, David, was diagnosed and was in and out of a Boston hospital for treatment.
As he was dying, David asked Romney to help write a will, so he could leave his prized possessions to his friends and family. And before he died, David asked to be buried in his Boy Scout uniform and asked Romney to give his eulogy, which he did.
"You cannot measure a man's character based on words he utters before adoring crowds during happy times," said Ted Oparowski. "The true measure of a man is revealed in his actions during times of trouble, the quiet hospital room of a dying boy, with no cameras and no reporters — that is the time to make an assessment."
Robert Gehrke