By Michaela Gordoni
NFL star Russell Wilson’s wife shared how he inspired a teen with leukemia to continue his difficult treatment after being told he had 12 hours left to live.
“You talk about being able to be a part of saving someone’s life essentially, right? It’s such a gift,” said Wilson’s wife, Grammy winner Ciara.
She said Wilson “convinced this kid,” Milton Wright, to stick with stem cell therapy. “This kid did not want to try it. He had twelve hours left to live.”
The 19-year-old had already beaten leukemia twice before — once at age 8, and then again at 14.
“When I walked into the Cancer Unit, his family was all around him. Milton was silent, just crying,” Wilson previously wrote in The Player’s Tribune. “I could tell he was scared. Everyone in the room was in tears. I was in tears.
“There was only one option left for Milton. A team of doctors from Seattle Children’s Hospital were in the middle of attempting an experimental treatment called T-cell therapy through a clinical trial supported by Strong Against Cancer,” Wilson wrote. “This is the final option, when there are absolutely no other options left. The doctors told me it had only been tried once before at Seattle Children’s Hospital.”
“Russ went in and talked to him and convinced him, ‘Hey, kid,’ told him his story about losing his father, everything. Before you know it, the kid changed his mind, got up and was like, ‘I want to do it,’” Ciara shared.
Wilson’s father died in 2010 at the age of 55 after complications with diabetes. Wilson told Wright how his father couldn’t walk or see anymore, and the doctors said he had only 24 hours left to live. But he “kept on fighting for two more years. Wilson told Wright to keep fighting, just like his dad did.
Ciara said, “Before you know it, the kid changed his mind. Got up, was like, ‘I want to do it.’ Now fast forward to this kid is in the hospital telling other kids to try it.”
A couple of months later, he was in remission. Now, Wilson says Wright inspires him.
Ciara said there’s a lot of power in Wilson’s and Wright’s experiences.
“It’s such a blessing and we’re just really big on encouraging people to have a ‘Why Not You’ attitude because we still have to tap into that ourselves,” she said of her and Wilson’s children foundation, Why Not You?
“We know the power of that, right? Why Not You? It’s real special to us, real near and dear to our hearts,” she said.
Why Not You? supports kids in poverty through education and a “Why not you attitude.”
The foundation’s description reads, “In addition to financially supporting organizations aligned with the foundation’s mission, Russell works to extend the foundation’s impact by advocating for pediatric cancer, making visits to Children’s Hospitals across the US, and partnering with organization like V Foundation, Boys & Girls Club, Friends of the Children and many others.”
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