HELP BRING MY SON BACK HOME

My name is Nelson Wells, Sr. and I write to you on behalf of my wife, Cynthia Wells, and our family, asking for your assistance in our fight to bring home our son, Nelson Wells, Jr., who has been unjustly imprisoned in China for more than eight years. We are natives of Louisiana, who have served our country for decades. I served in the United States Army for more than 20 years, and Cynthia, served at the Department of Defense for nearly 28 years. We’ve traveled all over the United States and world and have a host of extended family and friends, who join us in the fight for our son. This includes Nelson’s wife and three children, who are desperate to have him returned to our family unit. Like us, Nelson, Jr. loved to travel, and it was this love of travel that inspired him to live in Japan and visit China. Unfortunately, it was on one of these visits there that Nelson was arrested and later convicted on a drug charge with little evidence of his guilt, opportunity to defend himself, or due process prior to this conviction and incarceration. He was stripped of his freedom without the opportunity to tell his story. Indeed, it took months for us to learn what happened to him. We’ve fought for years to help our son, working behind the scenes with advocates, lawyers and diplomatic officials in the United States and China. We were told that this quiet strategy was the best strategy to keep him safe, but after nearly a decade with little progress, we’ve decided to tell our story, Nelson’s story. It breaks our heart to say it, but Nelson is now sick. The weight of incarceration has taken a toll on his physical and mental health. As you can see from the photos, our child has gone from a healthy man to an emaciated one, who has lost more than 100lbs and is in poor health. He is suffering from life-threatening medical problems in a prison in Chongqing Southwest China far from us, far from his wife and children. Indeed, we have not seen him during these eight long years. We are sustained by periodic calls from him, and for that, we are thankful to God, the United States State Department, and the Chinese government and prison officials. Still, we fear that he will not last much longer. It is time to bring Nelson home, perhaps through medical parole. Whatever the pathway, getting help for him is more urgent now than ever and so we are turning to the public for help with legal fees and welfare support on his behalf. No amount is too small, and we promise that your donations will only be used to directly secure the release and return of our son. We also invite you to leave a comment alongside your donation with a note of inspiration that we can share with Nelson, a personal reflection about Nelson for those who know him, or a testimonial about why you are deciding to join our fight. Thank you for considering this request. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Nelson. Thank you, in advance, for your generosity. Even the act of creating this go fund me page and sharing our story publicly has given us – including Nelson – purpose and hope for the future when we can be reunited. Until then we are heartbroken, but we fight on. Mr. Nelson Wells, Sr. and Mrs. Cynthia Wells Louisiana