When Jennifer Carr-Forman saw the text from a Marine recruiter asking if her son, Peyton, would be interested in learning about a military career, “I laughed, actually. I laughed out loud for half-a-second, then it just hit me with a little bit of sadness.”
The unexpected mixed emotions occurred because Jennifer’s son is non-verbal special needs. Putting emotions aside, she responded to the text with kind words explaining why Peyton could not qualify as a potential Marine. Staff Sergeant Anthony Sandoval quickly apologized for not knowing - and then asked if 17-year-old Peyton would like a Marine t-shirt and some stickers. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.
That could easily have been the end of the story, the items eventually arriving in the mail. But Sgt. Sandoval’s sense of duty and caring kicked in and he actually brought the items to Peyton’s Orange County, California home. “It was the least I could do for him,” explains the Marine recruiter, who met with Peyton and kneeled alongside for some pictures. He said the experience was positive and “very humbling” and shared that he has a heart for people with special needs because, “my aunt just had twins and one of them was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.”
In our complete podcast below, hear how dedicated Jennifer is to raising Peyton. She shares there are many health issues “and just everyday battles that we deal with just for him to have a happy life.” And the visit by Sgt. Sandoval was a very good thing for the family, because “we’re isolated a lot … we don’t go to parties, we don’t get invited to things. A lot of people just don’t understand and so they don’t often reach out,” which made the in-home visit from Sgt. Sandoval that much more of a blessing.
