CLYDE HILL — At 15 years old, Natalie Razore has already survived more than many people face in a lifetime.
She loves music. She’s a devoted Seattle Kraken fan. She grew up cheering in Bellevue. By most appearances, Natalie is a typical teenager.
But her journey to this moment — and Make-A-Wish Washington Alaska taking her to the Grammys this weekend — has been anything but typical.
When Natalie was just two weeks old, she contracted pertussis, also known as whooping cough.
“I spent 72 days at Seattle Children’s Hospital,” Natalie said.
She stopped breathing and needed blood transfusions, a ventilator, and eventually ECMO — a machine that temporarily took over for her heart and lungs.
Her family says she was the first infant with whopping cough that needed an ECMO machine to ever survive at Seattle Children’s.
But that early fight left lasting complications – damage to a growth plate in her left leg. It meant Natalie would need surgery every few years, followed by six months in a wheelchair and daily physical therapy.
“We’d come home from Minnesota with this big growing machine and we’d have to grow two to three times a day,” Natalie said.
Her final leg-lengthening surgery is scheduled for March. For the first time, it felt like the end of a long medical journey was in sight.
Then, last year, Natalie noticed something wasn’t right.
“Some lymph nodes went under my armpit,” she said. “Then I was wearing a necklace and my neck fell uneven. I was like, ‘Mom, Dad — what is this?’”
The diagnosis changed everything - stage three cancer.
“Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Natalie said. “I was pretty shocked.”
She cut her hair and began chemotherapy, returning again and again to Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Through it all, Natalie found strength in music.
“Taylor Swift’s song ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ was my theme song going across the 520 Bridge,” she said. “The lyric is, ‘I’m a real tough kid.’”
Now, Make-A-Wish Washington Alaska is giving Natalie another reason to sing — sending her to the Grammys this weekend.
“That was my wish,” Natalie said. “Because I love music.”
The experience includes walking the red carpet and seeing some of her favorite artists up close.
“I’m most excited to see all the different music artists — hopefully get some autographs,” she said.
But the biggest moment in Natalie’s journey came well before Make-A-Wish – she is now in remission.
“I rang the bell last March,” she said.
After years spent in and out of hospital rooms, she’s imagining a future beyond appointments and procedures.
“My dream job is probably to become a teacher,” Natalie said. She added she also wants to be a mom. “I just love little kids — and enjoying life.”
Natalie and her mom are already in Los Angeles for the Grammys. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Washington-Alaska chapter of Make-A-Wish, which has granted wishes to more than 9,200 children.
You can follow Natalie’s medical journey on Instagram.
©2026 Cox Media Group
