TIMELINE OF EVENTS
July 1976—Todd Burpo’s grandpa, whom he calls “Pop” (Lawrence
Edelbert Barber), dies in a car accident between Ulysses and Liberal,
Kansas.
1982 —Todd as a thirteen-year-old hears and accepts Christ’s call into
ministry as a preacher of the gospel.
December 29, 1990—Todd and Sonja Burpo are married.
August 16, 1996—Cassie Burpo, Colton’s older sister, is born.
July 1997—Pastor Todd and Sonja Burpo accept a call to the Crossroads
Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska.
June 20, 1998—Sonja Burpo miscarries their second child. She is two
months along.
May 19, 1999—Colton Burpo is born.
August 2002—Todd shatters his leg in a coed softball tournament game.
October 2002—Todd develops kidney stones.
November 2002—Todd feels a lump in his chest that is diagnosed as
hyperplasia.
February 27, 2003—Colton complains of stomach pain and has a high
fever that is misdiagnosed as stomach flu.
February 28, 2003—Colton’s fever breaks. His parents rejoice, thinking
that Colton is well, when in fact this is a sign of the rupturing of his
appendix.
March 1, 2003—The Burpo family visits the Denver Butterfly Pavilion to
celebrate Todd’s recovery. That night Colton begins vomiting
uncontrollably.
March 3, 2003—Colton is examined by a doctor in Imperial, Nebraska,
who dismisses suggestions of appendicitis.
March 5, 2003—Todd and Sonja personally check Colton out of the
Imperial, Nebraska, hospital and take their son by car to North Platte,
Nebraska’s Great Plains Regional Medical Center. Dr. Timothy
O’Holleran prepares for surgery.
March 5, 2003—Colton undergoes his first surgery, an appendectomy. He
has both a ruptured appendix and an abscess.