Wish Upon an Ice Rink

When Everett Boboth looked across the family dinner table one November night in 2020, his eyes focused on the complexions of sons Owen and Jackson. The boys are identical twins but at this meal, Owen's face was "pink and healthy while Jackson looked like a ghost next to him."
After dinner, Everett talked to his wife, Carrie, both agreeing Jackson's recurring lethargy and occasional cough over three weeks needed to be checked out. The next morning, Everett, an optometrist, called a friend and pediatrician in their town of Sunnyside in south-central Washington, between Yakima and the Tri-Cities.
The friend and doctor said, "Forget your day, you and Jackson need to come in right away." Everett cancelled all of his patient appointments and Jackson underwent an exam and extensive blood tests. The pediatrician called the next morning, asking Everett and Carrie to come see him.

"We've known him for quite a while," said Everett. "He told us, 'This is cancer until proven otherwise. Jackson needs a blood transfusion right away."
"Which actually was a tremendous gift," said Carrie, fast forward to her standing in the Amazon Music Room at Climate Pledge Arena Wednesday night before the Kraken beat rival Vancouver, 6-1, and an unforgettable Make-A-Wish experience unfolding for nine-year-old Jackson and the entire Boboth family. "It's normally hard to get [a patient admitted] into Seattle Children's Hospital straight away. But because Jackson needed a blood transfusion, he was considered an emergency case. Our doctor said, go right now."
That is exactly what the couple did that same day, dropping Owen and their other two kids, Elsie (now 11) and younger brother Zeke with Everett's brother and his wife. Speed of departure turned out to be crucial. A pending November snowstorm calling for 20-some inches was in the early stages, which in turn was likely going to close Stevens Pass on Route 2. The Boboths made it through the pass, but it closed 45 minutes after they drove through.
At the hospital, an x-ray revealed a sizeable mass that was affecting a lung ("pushing against his airway," said Everett) and fluid around the heart. The diagnosis was T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Jackson, then 7, started chemotherapy the next day.

"The whole day I was thinking, what's the next step? And the next step after that?" said Carrie. "Then we got to Children's and handed Jackson over [to the nurses and doctors]. Everett was talking to providers and I just blacked out. I couldn't make any sense of the words."
"I'm throwing up in the wastebasket because I just can't process what's happening. It was the height of COVID. I'm afraid they're going to kick me out because I'm throwing up. My body was rejecting everything that was happening. At one point that night, a provider was in the room asking us to sign consent to treatment. He looked over at me and says, 'Honey, are you okay with this?' I remember saying, 'I'm not okay with that. No. Not any part of this.' "
A month later, Jackson was home from a long hospital stay but too weak to climb the stairs in his family's townhouse. But Jackson was determined to work toward taking those stairs on his own because his bedroom was on the second floor. Carrie was there standing with her son every night, carrying him the rest of the way when he couldn't make it any higher. It was a celebratory event when the seven-year-old determinedly walked to his bedroom without help for the first time after the diagnosis.
Two years later, Jackson is in remission, still taking daily oral medications and receiving monthly chemotherapy treatment, driving the three hours from Sunnyside. That regimen is likely to continue for another two years-plus.
Cut to this week and another celebration. This one made possible by Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington in collaboration with the Kraken. The Boboths attended the team's Wednesday practice at Kraken Community Iceplex, in itself a thrill for Jackson, twin Owen and younger brother Zeke. The boys all started watching hockey during the pandemic when Everett was flipping channels for a sporting event to watch. The now-superfan boys urged Dad to stop on the channel with hockey. Despite living a full hour from the nearest ice rink, the Boboth sons are all avid rollerbladers who play street hockey as much as they can.
What Jackson didn't know is he would be joining the Kraken on the ice in a full set of Bauer goalie gear. His favorite player, Philipp Grubauer, helped get him into the equipment and later worked the wardrobe detail again so Jackson could meet the media at his own stall in the Kraken dressing room at the Iceplex. With a big grin on his face and perfect timing, Jackson told gathered reporters what it was like facing NHL shooters, which include Grubauer and Jones: "Horrifying."
Meanwhile, center Alexander Wennberg was walking around the player areas with a mini-soccer ball asking every teammate to sign it for the Boboth family.
Out on the ice, with his leg pads practically up to his waist, Jackson took pointers from Grubauer and fellow Kraken goalie Martin Jones. Twin Owen was in gear, too, taking shots on his brother. Matty Beniers stayed the longest to take shots on Jackson, finding out the young goalie had some moves. Coach Dave Hakstol, who laced up Jackson's skates, joined the Boboth family on the practice rink.

"He looked pretty good out there today. I wouldn't be shooting at his glove, I can tell you that," said Hakstol, all smiles. "He's rock-solid there."
The whole family was surprised by other activities Wednesday. Mom, Dad, the three brothers and older sister, Elsie, 11, ate lunch with the Kraken in the players' lounge. Everett was still buzzing Thursday about talking with alternate captain Yanni Gourde during the meal.
Yet there was more on Wednesday: The twins went shopping for suits with defenseman Carson Soucy because they would be part of the players' arrival photos ever-popular on Kraken social media channels. Beniers joined the family for dinner and games at Dave & Buster's after the shopping was done at Nordstrom.
"It's fun to see Jackson just light up because now these guys aren't just his heroes," said Carrie Boboth. "They're his friends."
Somewhere between lunch and dinner, Everett Boboth and Grubauer were talking about the boys' love of hockey and how little Dad, a baseball player, knew about the game. Everett said when the twins asked basic questions such as "What's icing?" he simply didn't know, he called his best friend from his college days, who was a hockey goalie at Eastern Washington University. Grubauer quickly suggested, "Call him on your cell." It was the friend's turn to be surprised, made even better because he is a fan of the Colorado Avalanche, Grubauer's former team.
Thursday's game night went even more storybook. Jackson and his brothers sat on the Kraken bench during warmups with players like Soucy stopping by to chat while grabbing some water. Jackson, in full goalie gear, to a loud and appreciative crowd, joined the Seattle starting lineup on the ice for the national anthems, getting a tap on the pads while standing next to Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand, who would go on to score two goals in the Kraken's 6-1 win. After Bjorkstrand scored his second goal, the Climate Pledge Arena video twin boards showed mascot Buoy cheering and holding up Jackson in his arms.

Following the win, Jackson was named First Star with more roars from the crowd. In the Seattle dressing room, Hakstol told Jackson "great job, buddy" for bringing the Kraken good luck. Defenseman Cale Fleury, the current holder of the Davy Jones Hat he earned in last Thursday's win over New Jersey, passed on the winning-tradition item to Jackson, whose "speech" was "See you Friday!" to raucous cheers from the players knowing it is code for no practice Thursday.

"Above and beyond, that's the word that keeps popping into my mind," said Everett Boboth, when asked about the Make-A-Wish and the Kraken efforts, an outreach that started more than two years ago and including the Boboth family being hosted by the team at a home game last season.
During the early stages of diagnosis and treatment, Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington reached out to the Boboths through a social worker. When Jackson first heard, he excitedly talked about going on an amusement park trip. But Everett asked his son to give it a bit more thought.
"I told him, you know, if you want to do those things this year, I'm not gonna stop you," said Jackson's dad. "But just realize when you get out of here [the hospital] I can take you to do those things. Think about things I couldn't do for you if you could do anything. Think big. And his eyes got real big. Remember there's no players or expansion draft yet. He looked at me and said, 'I want to skate on the ice with the Kraken.' "
Mission accomplished, wish granted.