It’s been about two months since 9-year-old Sophia Campa-Peters asked the world to pray for her when she had brain surgery.
“We knew it was a big request to have worldwide prayers, but to see the outpouring of love and support was so heartwarming for us,” said Andy Peters, Sophia’s dad.
One day after surgery, Sophia, a 9-year-old from Brownfield, said she was “walking and talking and making jokes like the strokes.”
“The very moment she was in surgery, we knew people were praying for us,” said Andy Peters.
The past two months have been a whirlwind for Sophia and her family. After Sophia requested prayers, Congressman Jodey Arrington told Sophia’s story on the House floor.
“Well, I was anxious to meet her because I’d read her story and we had been praying as an office,” Arrington said. “Of course, we were trying to rally folks in the district to pray, then made the connection with the White House that turned into the President rallying the whole world to pray.”
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also asked for prayers on Sophia’s behalf during a White House news conference the day before the big surgery.
“So while we were in the surgeon’s office waiting room, waiting to meet him for the first time in person, we were watching our phones. It was such a strange dichotomy waiting for our daughter’s story being told on a national level and the reality of ‘Oh my gosh, we are here for brain surgery.’ It hit home for us,” said Andy Peters.
After her surgery, President Trump invited Sophia to the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 8.
“I met the president, and he was awesome. He was kind of like my grandpa,” said Sophia.
“The whole thing was very surreal, watching it from home and especially hearing President Trump introduce my daughter on national television,” said Andy Peters.
While in Washington, D.C., Congressman Arrington gave them the VIP tour of the Capitol.
“Then we proceeded to the speaker’s balcony, at which time Speaker Paul Ryan just happened to be walking by. We got to take a picture with the speaker on the speaker’s balcony,” said Arrington.
That’s not the only moment Arrington and his staff won’t forget about this brave little girl.
“I must say one of the things that struck me when she was on the floor with me,” Arrington said. “I was looking over her shoulder at the speaker’s chair. Above the speaker’s chair we have that motto: ‘In God we trust.'”
Now that she’s back to her normal routine in Brownfield, the people she went up to before all of this started and asked for prayers are now coming up to her.
“One of the challenging things here is that Sophia has memory loss. So sometimes, people will come up and talk to her hug her and introduce themselves to her. She really has no idea why. We have to remind her, ‘You asked these people to pray for you,'” Sophia’s dad said.
Sophia will need to have more scans and go back to Boston in a year to check on her progress. Her family says she’s doing great right now.
