Ciara is giving Russell Wilson his flowers for stepping in to help a young cancer patient whose life was hanging by a thread.
During an interview on Power 106 Los Angeles on Wednesday (September 10), the “CiCi” singer opened up about her and Wilson’s philanthropic work through their Why Not You foundation. She recalled how her husband, now quarterback for the New York Giants, encouraged a child who had been given just 12 hours to live to undergo stem cell therapy—a decision that saved the young patient’s life.
Around the 15:30 mark of the interview, Ciara praised Wilson, saying he has “defied many odds.”
“We’re so blessed that we get to do life together and we get to impact together and that’s one thing we love doing,” she shared. “We love being able to provide opportunities for kids to live their dreams.”
Ciara and Wilson, who have been married for nine years, share four children together, including Ciara’s eldest, Future Zahir, from her previous relationship with rapper Future.
One of those children was Milton Wright, a cancer patient who initially refused stem cell therapy—until Russell Wilson stepped in.
“And this kid did not want to try it. He had twelve hours left to live,” Ciara recalled. “Russ went in and talked to him and convinced him, ‘Hey, kid,’ told him his story about losing his father, everything. Before you know it, the kid changed his mind, got up and was like, ‘I want to do it.’”
Ciara explained that Wright’s turnaround inspired him to later encourage other young cancer patients to give stem cell treatment a chance. “So you think about the power in that, it’s such a blessing,” she said.
Wilson had previously shared Wright’s story in a 2016 Players’ Tribune op-ed, the same year he married Ciara. At the time, Wright was 19 and faced a life-or-death decision about whether to move forward with T-cell treatment.
“When I sat by his bed and looked into his eyes, I could tell he had accepted the possibility of death. But he was really scared,” Wilson wrote. “What can you possibly say in that moment? There are no words. So I did the only thing I could. I told him about my father.”
Wilson spoke about his late dad, Harrison Wilson III, who battled diabetes and lived two years longer than doctors expected after being placed in a coma in 2008.
“The doctors didn’t expect him to have any motor function in those years. But he kept on smiling, even when he couldn’t speak. He kept rooting me on when I took the field in college,” Wilson recalled. “He was still my dad. His spirit was still there. And it’s still here with me to this day. So I told Milton to keep fighting like my dad did.”
