There is no doubting the wonderful impact Fred Rogers’ ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ program had on the lives of the kids who watched it.
However, it is claimed that one child who saw the adored children’s show, which finished its run in 2001, had a medical issue.
Beth Usher used to have up to 100 seizures every day as a child. But if Usher watched ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ his seizures would mysteriously stop for 30 minutes each day.
Rogers would ultimately turn out to be Beth’s rescuer as she grew up, both on television and in real life. Within the first week of kindergarten, Beth started having seizures.
Over time, Beth’s seizures worsened to the point where she experienced up to 100 of them daily. Beth explained to WUSA 9 that it was like being stuck on a rollercoaster.
However, at one point in the day, the ride was stopped. Kathy, Beth’s mother, had to prop her daughter up with pillows and put her in front of the TV while her brother took care of Beth so that Kathy could wash and get ready for work.
She switched on the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV program, and I was seizure-free the entire time. My damaged brain’s electrical circuits were calmed by something in his speech, allowing my body to rest, Beth wrote in an essay for The Mighty.
Rogers came to be seen by Beth as a close friend, and she made it a point to tell him she loved him at the conclusion of each performance. The left half of Beth’s brain was later shown to be shrinking.
The family chose to have Beth undergo an unique procedure to remove the left hemisphere of her brain in order to treat her highly rare condition, Rasmussen’s encephalitis, and prevent additional brain damage.
Kathy contacted the ‘Mister Rogers Neighborhood’ program and requested that Beth’s favorite character send her a signed autograph in order to allay her daughter’s worries.
Rogers went one step farther and called Beth.
‘I was overjoyed. I told him things that I would never have disclosed to my parents. I informed him of the procedure and how I might pass away.
Moreover, I didn’t want to leave my brother since I didn’t want to die. When Beth, then 39, reflected on the experience in a 2018 interview, ‘it felt like chatting to an old friend.
Like Beth, Rogers was a sick child for a time. He claimed that he suffered from ‘every imaginable childhood disease,’ which made him spend a lot of time indoors.
Rogers would use his imagination to pass the time because he felt as though he had no pals at the time. In order to keep kids like him from feeling helpless, he made sure to include vital reminders in his presentation, such as the following:
‘Doctors can’t know what kids are thinking and feeling by looking through their apparatus or any other way. Only you are aware of your thoughts and emotions.
By the end of their chat, Beth had spoken on the phone with all of her TV pals, including Daniel Striped Tiger, King Friday the 13th, Queen Sara, and Daniel Friday the 13th, who told Beth he loved her and that everything would be okay.
Beth remained stable following her 12-hour operation, but she soon slipped into a two-month coma. Every day, Rogers would make sure to give the hospital a call to see how Beth was doing.
When he saw she wasn’t getting better, he even went to the hospital to give Beth her very own puppet performance. In order to prevent her from waking up alone, Rogers also left her his puppets.
Beth awoke from her coma not too long after his arrival. Rogers exclaimed, ‘Praise God,’ after learning the news.
Rogers made sure to contact Beth by mail and kept calling her on her birthday every year. His passing was grieved by the family and the rest of the globe in 2003.
There must be more people like him; we need them severely. We frequently ask ourselves, ‘What would Fred do?’ Simply be kind. Everyone is deserving of love and acceptance just the way they are.
In the video below, you may find out more about this American hero and his incredible miracle.