Rini Olson got a wagon full of gifts during a surprise barbecue at Capitol Subaru on Tuesday. (Saphara Harrell/ Salem Reporter)
A 7-year-old Salem girl’s wish is coming true later this month.
Rini Olson’s dream was to play football and eat Top Ramen with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation is making it happen through a donation from Capitol Subaru.
On Tuesday, the car dealership held a surprise barbecue for Rini and her family before they drive up to Seattle to fulfill the wish.
Rini’s mom, Andrea, said that six years ago the family spent months at Seattle Children’s Hospital while Rini recovered from a heart transplant.
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Olson said the football star would visit the children’s hospital and everyone would get excited – doctors and nurses would wear their Seawhawks gear.
“It really gave a sense of camaraderie and joy,” Olson said.
The family watches football games when the Seahawks are playing, and Olson said her daughter has a serious crush on Wilson.
She said Rini will sometimes grab her cellphone and pretend she’s talking to him.
“She talks about what she’s going to say to Russell and what he’ll say back,” Olson said.
Rini knows about the wish — the family didn’t want to wait months to tell her.
Rini Olson got a wagon full of gifts during a surprise party at Capitol Subaru on Tuesday. (Saphara Harrell/ Salem Reporter)
While the wish has brought a lot of excitement for the family, Olson said they were hesitant to pursue one at first.
“We struggled with it emotionally because of what it represents,” she said. “The fact that your child qualifies for a wish is communicating something about what they’ve been through.”
Andrea and her husband, Eric, have six children total. Five of them are adopted and four have some form of congenital heart disease.
“We made a choice and we feel a lot of it is about attitude,” Olson said. “We feel privileged to get to raise these kids.”
When the couple adopted Rini at nearly 2 years old, they went straight from the airport to the hospital.
“Her transplant team characterized her as the sickest 1% of kids that they manage,” Olson said. “For them to characterize Rini as one of the sickest kids they’ve managed said something. She survived, a lot of children don’t.”
She said the family had already felt lucky that Rini survived the operation and that she’s been stable for the last few years. But friends in the heart disease community urged the Olsons to pursue a wish. Olson said the parents of two children who had gotten their wish before they died said they were glad they took the opportunity.
“It’s given great joy to a situation that I think otherwise can be heartbreaking,” she said.
Olson said her children’s medical issues are only one piece of who they are, it doesn’t define them.
“It seems like the disease is the entire person and you really realize with any of us, it’s just one piece. You manage that piece and then you move on,” Olson said.
Heart transplants aren’t a cure and Olson said when a child undergoes the surgery, they’re trading one disease for a bunch of other issues. There’s a lifelong need for immunosuppressant medication that can leave the child at risk for infections or cancer.
Generally, heart transplants are good for 10 years before the patient will need another, but that can vary depending from patient to patient. Olson said some children have lived for 20 years with the same heart, while others have had multiple transplants by that age.
“At any appointment something can pop up that shows up things are changing,” Olson said. “This is her reality and the reality of post-transplant life.”
Olson said the family is glad they pursued the wish.
“It’s given her so much joy and I know that she’ll have great memories afterwards,” she said.
Have a tip? Contact reporter Saphara Harrell at 503-549-6250, [email protected] or @daisysaphara.
