The Pokemon Company sent an 8-year-old boy a surprise present after the child sold his Pokemon card collection to pay for his dog’s medical treatment. Earlier this month, Bryson Kliemann of Lebanon, Virginia went viral when he sold parts of his Pokemon card collection to pay for his dog’s parvo treatment. Kliemann’s mother posted a picture of the boy, age 8, selling some of his Pokemon cards at a roadside stand as part of a GoFundMe to raise money for the $700 medical treatment. The story helped Kliemann raise over $5,000, and now The Pokemon Company has reached out to help the boy re-stock his card collection.
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WSLS 10 reports that employees from The Pokemon Company sent Kliemann several Battle Decks and a copy of Pokemon Battle Academy to help make up for the cards that he sold. With the cards came a note that read “Hey Bryson, we were so inspired by your story about selling your cards for your dog’s recovery, these are some cards to help you replace the ones you had to sell.”
The gift from The Pokemon Company has extra meaning given how hard it is to get Pokemon cards these days. Due to the card game’s immense popularity and supply shortages related to COVID-19, it’s hard to find Pokemon cards in stores these days. Not only that, many major retailers have stopped selling Pokemon cards and sports cards due to ugly incidents involving scalpers. The Pokemon Company has increased production as a result of the increased demand, but it could be some time before Pokemon cards get back in stores.
Kliemann’s puppy has made a successful recovery, with Kliemann’s mother commenting that “[the dog] has more vaccine appointments, but he’s doing great, like amazing.” After finishing the dog’s vaccinations, Kliemann’s family plans to use the excess money from the GoFundMe to pay for medical expenses of other local sick pets.
The next Pokemon card set to be released is “Chilling Reign,” which will be released on June 18th. You might be able to find the cards either through online retailers or at local game stores.