CLÊY HİL – Natalie Razore, just 15 years old, has faced more challenges than many people encounter in a lifetime. She loves music and is a devoted fan of the Seattle Kraken. Growing up in Bellevue, she cheered for them. By most appearances, Natalie seems like an ordinary teenager.
But her journey to this point – and the Make-A-Wish Washington Alaska dream that brought her to the Grammys this weekend – has been anything but ordinary.
When only two weeks old, Natalie contracted whooping cough, also known as paroxysmal coughing.
“I spent 72 days at Seattle Children’s Hospital,” Natalie said.
She stopped breathing and required blood transfusions, a ventilator, and eventually ECMO – an emergency device that temporarily replaced her heart and lungs.
Her family said Natalie was the first premature baby to survive whooping cough with ECMO treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
But this early battle left lasting consequences – damage to the growth of bones in her left foot. This means regular surgeries, six months on a wheelchair, and daily physical therapy.
“We brought a growth stimulator from Minnesota home, and we had to increase her height two or three times every day,” Natalie said.
Her final surgery to lengthen her leg was scheduled for March. It was the first time she felt like her long medical journey might be coming to an end.
Then last year, Natalie realized something was wrong.
“Swollen lymph nodes went through my arm,” she said. “After that, I wore a necklace and my neck became crooked. I told my parents: ‘What is this?’”
The diagnosis changed everything – stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“It was U-lympho Hodgkin,” Natalie said. “I was quite shocked.”
She cut her hair and began chemotherapy, returning to Seattle Children’s Hospital multiple times.
Throughout this process, Natalie found strength in music.
“The Taylor Swift song ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ was my anthem as I crossed the 520 bridge,” she said. “The lyrics are: ‘I am that truly strong child.’”
Now, Make-A-Wish Washington Alaska is giving Natalie another reason to sing – taking her to the Grammys this weekend.
“That’s my dream,” Natalie said. “Because I love music.”
Her experiences include walking the red carpet and meeting her favorite musicians.
“I’m most excited to see different musicians – hoping to get autographs from them,” she said.
But the biggest highlight of Natalie’s journey before Make-A-Wish was that she is in recovery.
“I rang a bell last March,” she said.
After years in hospitals, she envisions a future far beyond appointments and medical procedures.
“My dream job could be teaching,” Natalie said. “I also want to become a mother. ‘I just love children – and enjoy life.’”
Natalie and her mother traveled to Los Angeles for the Grammys this year. This marks the 40th anniversary of the Washington-Alaska Make-A-Wish program, which has granted wishes to over 9,200 children.
You can follow Natalie’s medical journey on Instagram.
chia sẽ trên Twitter: Teen Girl from Washington Translates Dreams into Reality at the Grammys
