God bless you, Sgt. Mark Dolfini, USMC. The Corps needs a medal for compassion.

I get sent a lot of glurge, that is, the "feel good" human interest stories that may or may not be true.  Most  of the time I give them a short glance and move on, but every once in awhile, I do some fact-checking, if only to learn that a story is true and have my faith in humanity renewed.  I am happy to say this is one of those stories:

Every now and then, in the middle of the constant barrage of crap that’s just pissing us all off these days, we come across a story, a feat, an event that just makes us stop in our tracks. This was one for me.

Cody Green was a 12-year kid in Indiana who was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 months old. He loved the Marines, and his parents said he drew strength and courage from the Marine Corps as he bravely fought the battle into remission three times. Although he was cancer-free at the time, the chemotherapy had lowered his immune system and he developed a fungus infection that attacked his brain. Two weeks ago, as he struggled to fend off that infection in the hospital, the Marines wanted to show how much they respected his will to live, his strength, honor and courage. They presented Cody with Marine navigator wings and named him an honorary member of the United States Marine Corps. For one Marine, that wasn’t enough ... so that night, before Cody Green passed away, he took it upon himself to stand guard at Cody’s hospital door all night long, 8 hours straight.

Nowhere on the face of this planet is there a country so blessed as we to have men and women such as this. I wish I could personally tell this Marine how proud he makes me to be an American. God ... I do so love this country.

Who is this man?  Sgt. Mark Dolfini, USMC.

"When I was driving down there, I had no idea what I was going to say, I had no idea what I was walking into, I didn't know if Cody was conscious," said Sgt. Dolfini. "I didn't know anything. I didn't know what I was walking into whatsoever."

Sergeant Dolfini made the decision to stand guard outside Cody's door for as long as Cody was alive, which turned out to be eight straight hours. When a nurse told Sgt. Dolfini Cody's time was limited, Sgt. Dolfini made the choice to say goodbye. 

"I actually went in and talked to Tracy and David and we just talked for a little bit," said Sgt. Dolfini. "I asked them about Cody to tell me some things about him and ironically enough, we have quite a bit in common. Except the Saints. He's a Saints fan. I'm not, so we would have argued about that. Then I let them know I was going to go ahead and go and I saluted them on my way out and gave them their time."

Sergeant Dolfini said leaving Cody and his family was not one of the hardest thing he's ever done. That moment came a week later when he attended Cody's funeral.

"I went and went in front of the casket and saluted Cody," said Sgt. Dolfini. "I turned and before I left I stopped and I turned right to Tracy, Cody's mother. We looked straight into each other's eyes and I saluted her and that was so hard. That was the most difficult thing I've encountered in awhile, but I know for that moment in time that we were locked in each other's gaze, keeping your bearing at that point is a tough thing to do."

"Marines don't do this sort of thing for acclaim," said Sgt. Dolfini. "That's not how we're wired. It's not why we join. We didn't join the Marine Corps. to be rich, we didn't join it for fame, you don't do it for that reason."


"If we all did just something like that once a day or just something small just think of what an incredible legacy that would leave for Cody," said Sgt. Dolfini. 

Sgt. Dolfini has a new saint in Heaven to watch over him.