Community helps family raise funds for child to meet heroes at upcoming Salt Lake Comic Con


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HYRUM, Cache County — Four-year-old Aiden Booth is a pretty cool kid.

“My son is the sweetest little boy you'll ever, ever meet,” said Cassi Booth, Aiden’s mother.

Aiden is into wrestling — in particular, a fan of John Cena.

“He'll come wake us up at 4 o'clock in the morning because he wants to wrestle his daddy,” Booth said.

And despite his young age, Aiden is a big fan of the Fonz.

“Every time the music come comes on he starts shaking his little booty and dancing,” Booth said. “He's adorable.”

Aiden also has autism. Booth wants to give her son every opportunity. And when the opportunity came up to see both John Cena and Henry Winkler at Salt Lake Comic Con next week, Booth couldn't pass it up.

“We've been saving so we could go and as soon as we found out all of the people that were actually coming, we said, “We have to take Aiden,” Booth said.

Booth saved $300 to buy tickets so Aiden could have his picture taken with his idols. But sometime on Wednesday night, someone stole Booth's wallet right out of her unlocked minivan.

"Sadly, that [$300] wasn't just what was in our wallet," Booth said. "It was about $1,000."

Without that money, Booth said it was pointless to go to Salt Lake Comic Con, so she posted a question on the event's message board asking how to get a refund.

Within an hour, strangers were offering to pay for Aiden's photo ops, giving him VIP tickets and even set up a GoFundMe account.

“It blew up,” Booth said.

More than $600 has been donated so far and more money continues to come in.

“For this, many people to rally together to make sure he get gets what he deserves," Booth said. "I've done nothing but cry."

The refund Cassi Booth was hoping for is now a big surprise for Aiden.

“If he understands, he's going to freak out,” Booth said.

Booth hopes to meet up and take a group photo at Salt Lake Comic Con with everyone who donated money to Aiden. That way when Aiden is older, he'll remember all the people who helped make his dream come true.

Contributing: Xoel Cardenas

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