Army Officer Christian Blevins is overwhelmed by greeting cards
Written by Selina Hallam
As ABC11 recently reported, a US Army Officer in Moore County has been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers who have been sending greeting cards in support of his battle against cancer - and our readers can still send words of support to the address added below.
In August 2018, father of six Christian Blevins was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma (also known as Stage IV melanoma) in his bones and spine. After several rounds of chemo and radiation therapy, doctors told his then-pregnant wife, Katrina, that there was nothing more that they could do and Christian was recently moved to a hospice house.
Christian, also known as Tian, is a Fort Bragg soldier and a father of five girls and a new baby boy who was born in January this year.
Fort Bragg is the largest US Army base and Tian has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan several times over the years but has had to face the battle of his life in the past few months after being diagnosed with cancer. Just recently, Katrina shared this heartbreaking post on Facebook that there was nothing more that the doctors at Duke could do and that Christian was wanting to give up.
She urged people, including ones he didn't know, to send cards, letters or postcards to show him support and love and to give him the strength to fight.
Katrina's request for words of encouragement has found its way to hundreds of well-wishers from across the US and around the world, including as far away as Australia. Katrina told ABC11, "He was just real down and ready to give up, and I just said this can't happen, and I said you're not going to give up on me and so I posted on Facebook asking for people to send us cards for encouragement and to pray."
Tian said, "There are hundreds of cards in there from all over the United States as well as the world," and Katrina added, "He got a video of Lance Armstrong, a picture from Ted Cruz." Even strangers have shown up at First Health in Moore County to visit Tian in person. "My faith. It gets stronger and it's getting stronger all the time especially seeing everything that comes from everybody," Tian revealed.
Tian is still accepting words of support and as Katrina mentioned on her Facebook post, "...time is of the essence, the sooner the better." You can send your card, postcard or letter to:
Christian Blevins, 6271 Seven Lakes West, West End, NC 27376, USA
As well as sending words of hope and comfort to Tian and his family via snail mail, you can donate on their GoFundMe page here or buy a specially designed T-shirt here, with $5 of the proceeds of each sale going to the family.