Hero Laurence Carolin of Dexter

“It is our ethical and moral obligation to help others who are in need.”

Those impassioned words come from Laurence Carolin, a bright, engaging teen who has a face that absolutely lights up the room when he smiles. Laurence is heading into the 9th grade at Dexter High School this upcoming year. Like a lot of 14 year-olds, he loves music and enjoys playing the guitar.

“My favorite band is U2 and its lead singer Bono,” Laurence said recently on “The Lucy Ann Lance Show.” Not surprising given Laurence’s and Bono’s altruistic attitude toward others. Bono has long been an activist for causes in Africa, and was named Person of the Year by Time and granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth the II.

It was Bono’s music that helped Laurence get through a very dark time. He began suffering from a debilitating depression and no one could figure out why. Laurence says he battled suicidal thoughts, but what kept him going was listening to U2′s music. And then finally, he received his diagnosis.

An inoperable brain tumor.

Laurence is battling Gioblastoma Multiforme, the most aggressive type of brain cancer. For him, though, the diagnosis at least gave him an answer as to what was wrong. It also gave him an opportunity and a platform, like Bono, to help others around the world. Laurence’s disease is so serious that he was given the chance to make a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. His wish is to help others, and he’s pledging the money that would have been spent on him to go to the United Nations Foundation to treat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria patients in Africa.

“The people of Africa, without the U.S.’s help and intervention, are in a hopeless situation,” says Laurence. In a paper focusing on poverty, he writes:

“The statistic of every three seconds a person dies in Africa from disease, famine, lack of food and water will sadly still ring true. Some people think that this is just the way of the world. Yes, this is the way the world is, but history shows that the way of the world can be altered and changed. We put a man on the moon, we made the Soviet Union fall. I know we can make this stupid thing called Extreme Poverty a thing of the past!!!”

And maybe, just maybe, we can also cure cancer.

A beautiful boy with a giving spirit and wise beyond his years, who puts others’ needs before his own. Laurence Carolin makes you want to be a better person, and that is why he will always be our Hero.

If you would like to donate to Laurence’s cause through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, please contact President/CEO Susan Fenters Lerch at slerch@wishmich.org or call 800.622.WISH. Visit the Make-A-Wish website at www.wishmich.org.

Hero Laurence Carolin with Make-A-Wish Foundation President/CEO Susan Lerch, and his mom, Lisa.

Lucy Ann and her hero, Laurence Carolin