Santorum Family Faced Near Death Experience; Vows to Stay in Race
Rick Santorum's 3-year-old daughter, Bella, will be leaving the ICU Monday after nearly facing death.
Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, was admitted to the hospital Saturday with a severe case of pneumonia.
"A simple cold can kill her, and it almost did this weekend. She ended up with pneumonia and a cold," Santorum told conservative commentator Glenn Beck on his radio show Monday. "But she was able to get great care and yesterday really made a great turnaround and she will be out of the ICU today and so we are getting back to normal here.
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"We are feeling very, very blessed, I just want to thank everybody for their prayers."
As Bella was admitted to the hospital, Santorum, who was scheduled to be home for about 24 hours to retrieve his tax return from his personal computer, decided to stay with his wife and daughter in Pennsylvania. He canceled several Florida appearances and dispatched his oldest daughter, Elizabeth, to campaign in his place.
Speaking to a group of supporters in an airport hangar, Elizabeth sought to rally the troops and tell them her dad was fulfilling the ultimate role this weekend of being a "dad."
"This is not the easiest course for our family," the 20-year-old said. "But we knew that it would be worth it because America is worth it."
Since learning he won the Iowa caucuses after initially having to concede a tight race to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Santorum struggled in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. The former Pennsylvania senator now finds himself far behind the two front-runners in Florida, Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In one of the latest Florida polls taken by Suffolk University, Santorum finds himself a distant third at 12 percent, a far cry from Romney's 47 percent and Gingrich's 27 percent.
Knowing that he will not compete for a top spot in the Sunshine State, Santorum has decided to head into the heartland with campaign stops in Missouri and Minnesota, before striking out for Nevada and Colorado on Tuesday, the day the Florida primary will take place.
"I feel like we can get back on the trail again; Karen and the kids feel good that they are here to take care of her," he said. "We're not going anywhere, we are going to run hard … we are in this thing for the long haul. And the longer we are in, hopefully people will see, we're the right choice."
It has been reported that the Gingrich campaign has reached out to the Santorum camp to discuss the latter dropping out of the race.
"We have received no such request and do not plan on dropping out of this contest," a Santorum spokesperson said in an email to The Christian Post on Monday. "There are a lot of delegates out there and we plan to work hard to convince them Sen. Santorum is the best person to carry the GOP mantle."
