10-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Granted Wish to Meet Namesake President Jimmy Carter [View all]

[Tony_FLADEM]

A 10-year-old New York boy named Carter who beat cancer got to meet another cancer survivor named Carter, former President Jimmy Carter.

The meeting between Carter Beckhard-Suozzi of Glen Cove, New York, and the nation’s 39th president opened with a giant hug Monday at The Carter Center in Atlanta.

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Carter extended his arms as soon as he saw the former president, who gave him a “warm” hug, called him a “handsome little man" and asked him how he was feeling.

I said, 'Good,' and he said, 'Me, too,'" the boy told ABC News. "The hug definitely made me feel I was supposed to not be nervous."

Carter was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma in May 2015. He underwent five months of grueling chemotherapy and surgeries before being told by doctors he had beaten the cancer, according to his mom, Jane Beckhard-Suozzi.

While Carter was in the hospital, he was visited by officials from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Months later, out of the blue, he told his mom what he wanted his wish to be.

“He said, ‘Mom, I figured it out. I want to meet President Jimmy Carter,’” Beckhard-Suozzi recalled. “When I asked why, he said, ‘We have three things in common. We have the same name. We both have survived cancer and we both love helping people.’”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/10-year-cancer-survivor-granted-meet-namesake-president/story?id=40524173