Nike, OHSU 2017 Freestyle Designs Unveiled Oct. 27

“When I was a little baby, I didn’t have any kidneys,” 9-year-old Carissa Navarro says matter-of-factly from her home in Springfield, Oregon. “Now I have one.”

Thanks to her twin sister Savannah, an organ donor, and doctors at Oregon Health & Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Carissa is expected to have a long, full life of experiences her mother didn’t think possible in the first few days, months, and years of Carissa’s life.

“We didn’t know she didn’t have kidneys until two days after her birth,” says Elizabeth Navarro, Carissa’s mother. “It’s a miracle. Carissa is alive because of Savannah.”

Elizabeth says the doctors believe Savannah’s amniotic fluid acted as Carissa’s kidneys during development — which itself was also a miracle, she says.

“Now it’s very exciting when she goes pee,” Elizabeth says, laughing. “It’s the little things that normal kids do that we take for granted that are so important when she does them.”

Carissa’s most important achievement recently (aside from entering the third grade) was being selected as one of six Doernbecher patients between 8 and 15 years old to participate in the hospital’s 2017 Freestyle program, which partners the kids with professional Nike designers to create limited edition shoe and apparel designs.

With Nike donating back to Doernbecher 100 percent of the proceeds gained from the unique collections, the program has helped raise almost $17 million since it began in 2004.

At 4 p.m. Oct. 27, at the Portland Art Museum’s Mark Building, 1219 S.W. Park Ave., representatives from OHSU and Nike, and the kid designers themselves will unveil this year’s Freestyle collection.

Sold at select Nike locations and online, the limited collections typically sellout pretty quick — with some special auctions raising tens of thousands of dollars for just one design alone.

“It’s so special to me, the (Doernbecher Children's Hospital) Foundation, and the entire hospital,” says Freestyle Program Director Sarah Larson. “It provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids to share their stories and become bigger than their illness or diagnosis… (and) it adds a bright spot to an otherwise difficult time.”

For Carissa, however, it’s not so much about her or her story.

“I’m happy because I get to help kids,” she says. “When people are sick like me (and) in the hospital, their families are missing them, and they’re missing their families.

“I just want to help the kids go home.”

Following her birth, Carissa didn’t get to go home for four months, Elizabeth says.

Immediately following her arrival to the world, Carissa developed breathing problems and required neonatal care, Elizabeth says. There, doctors learned Carissa also had no urine output.

“We were already scared because of the lung issue,” Elizabeth says, noting that Carissa was put on dialysis at three days old. Two years later, things got even worse when Carissa developed an infection that nearly ended her already short life.

“We almost lost her,” Elizabeth says. “It was a really scary time.”

The Navarros were required to drive to Doernbecher from Springfield three times per week for two years, Elizabeth says. During that time, the family would sleep at the Ronald McDonald House.

Eventually, Carissa obtained a kidney from a deceased adult organ donor. The act saved Carissa’s life, Elizabeth says, and gave her the chance to participate in the Freestyle program.

“Participating can be therapeutic,” Larson says. “It lets (the kids) talk about what they’ve been through.”

But rather than talk about her medical experience, Carissa can hardly wait to talk about her Freestyle design.

Because she was working on it throughout the summer, Carissa was able to better keep the design a secret, she says. But Oct. 27 couldn’t come soon enough.

“I can’t wait to show my teachers, my friends, and my family,” Carissa says. “I was shocked (when she first saw the design). I was thinking about the price and whether $50 was too much.”

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Photo Courtesy: Oregon Health & Science University, Doernbecher Children's Hospital