Friday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Seahawks welcomed Lilly Holgate and Harrison Riemann as part of a Make-A-Wish experience that will also include attending this weekend's Week 6 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.
Harrison, 16, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and his wish was to watch the Seahawks play in-person. Lilly, 9, was diagnosed with leukemia in September of 2015 and her wish was to spend a day with the team on the field.
Both Harrison and Lilly had their wishes come true as the Seahawks went through their "No Repeat Friday" practice session. Each of them viewed practice alongside family before Seahawks players such as Russell Wilson, Michael Bennett, Tyler Lockett, Thomas Rawls and Kam Chancellor greeted them, signed autographs, posed for pictures and gave them high-fives.Â
"They're great with the kids, they interacted with them and came over and talked with them and asked questions," Lilly's mother, Tiffany, said. "That was really nice."
Afterwards, Wilson asked Harrison and Lilly to run out and catch a few passes on the field.
Being the older of the two, Harrison was able to go out a little further — as Rawls put it, "throw it to him like he's Doug Baldwin" — and stretched out to haul in the catch of the day: a 20-25-yard strike in the left end zone. Harrison later admitted he was a 7 out of 10 on the nervousness scale once the ball was in the air. Â
Lilly and her younger brother, Dawson, also decided to test out the practice field turf by sprinting down and back. Â
"I would say exciting and electric," Harrison's father, Paul, said when describing the day. "It was fun and interactive and I felt like the players went a little extra to engage … it really exceeded my expectations. It was really wonderful."
Along with tickets, each family will have on-field sideline passes for Sunday's game, where they'll have a chance to watch players go through pregame warmups before kickoff.
The Seahawks hosted Make-a-Wish kids Harrison, a 16-year-old who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, and Lilly, a 9-year-old who was diagnosed with leukemia on Friday, October 14 at Virginia Mason Athletic Center as Seattle readies to host the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6 at CenturyLink Field.