Colton Burpo
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Colton Burpo is the main character of Heaven is for Real. Colton was feeling stomach problems for a continuous amount of time so his parents took him to a doctor. The doctor misdiagnosed him with the flu, but Colton was not getting any better. His parents took him to the Children's Hospital of Denver, and they diagnosed Colton with a burst appendix. He had to undergo emergency surgery. Colton was not predicted to survive but had a successful surgery. A couple months after his surgery, he started referring to Heaven as it existed and talked about the amazing place. His parents kept pushing it aside but finally realized Colton had been in Heaven for some time while undergoing his surgery.
Todd Burpo
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Todd is the father of Colton and is also the co-author of the book. Todd is the pastor of a church called Crossroads in Imperial, Nebraska. Occasionally, he preaches about his son's story of going to Heaven for a short time to change listener's hearts and destroy their doubts. Todd is a volunteer firefighter when he is not focused on his church.
Sonja Burpo
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Sonja is Colton's mother. She is a teacher at a school in Nebraska. Sonja realized that Colton's sickness was much more than the flu because it had been going on for a long time. She knew that they had to bring Colton to a Children's Hospital to discover his true sickness to make him feel better.
Dr. O'Holleran
Dr. O'Holleran is the doctor who performed emergency appendix surgery on Colton in Colorado.
Cassie Burpo
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Cassie Burpo is Colton's older sister. She experienced the same stomach pains as Colton when they first misdiagnosed him with the flu, but she did not have a burst appendix.
Ali
Ali is the Burpo's babysitter who was touched when she heard about Colton's story. She came back to the faith after hearing about how much Colton missed his sister who he had met in Heaven.