Nik Ritschel was full of energy and smiles. He was very athletic, loyal to his friends, and overall a wonderful person to be around. In 2008, at the age of 17, Nik was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma–often a deadly form of cancer.
During Nik’s treatment, one thing that brought him joy was a wish from “Make-A-Wish”. “He drove those poor people crazy coming up with wishes they couldn’t do,” his mom Kelli Ritschel Boehle says. “He saw his other friends…they were turning 18, that magical age when everything in the world is at your feet. He was in a children’s hospital with me fighting for his life”.
Nik would ask the wish makers for a variety of things: a pet monkey, being on the show Deal or No Deal, or being a towel boy for the Chicago Bears.
While traveling from different hospitals, Nik became friends with another patient named Nate. He told Nik he was not able to get a wish because he turned 18 a month before his diagnosis.
Kelli remembers, “I can still hear him busting through the door saying ‘We gotta do something. We gotta help Nate. He missed out on Make-A-Wish.’”
At first, Kelli did not think too much about it. During the stress of her son’s treatment, there was not a lot of time to think. The night before Nik passed away, he made his mom promise she would help give wishes to kids who missed the deadline.
“It just kept nagging at me and the first time I was like, ‘I can’t do it, I don’t know how to, I’m busy, I’ve got other things, and grieving.’ But it was so strong that finally, I decided I’d have to find out if what he was talking about made any sense.”
As it turned out, there was no program for kids who missed the “Make-A-Wish” deadline. Kelli called Nik’s oncologist, Dr. Binner. He explained how everything stops when you turn 18. From that, Nik’s Wish was born. Nate received the first wish.
Kelli grants wishes from money raised by events and donations. This year on October 12th at the Rockford Rivets stadium, was the 13th annual Nik’s Home Run. This is a 7k run/walk. Each registration cost goes to granting wishes for young adults fighting cancer.
“Running our foundation is not easy. There’s always more wishes and more need than there is money” Kelli says, “I never gave up and honestly I’m blessed to have an amazing support group around me.”
Lindsay McGill is a first-year volunteer for Nik’s Wish. She says the best part about volunteering is seeing how many people come together to support this organization.
“There’s not anything else like this that I have heard of,” and McGill says she would like to continue volunteering.
Kelli says granting wishes is now one of her favorite things to do. “We’ve had people get proposed to, or even some wedding wishes. Puppy wishes are always cool. But honestly, some of the most heartfelt wishes for me are some of the ones that are maybe the most difficult.”
Kelli and her team had a young woman who couldn’t make it on a Hawaii trip because of how much pain she was in. So, the woman asked if she could visit Montana and have a family reunion. Kelli rented an RV for the family. They traveled to Montana, and the wish recipient showed her mom a special spot where she wanted her remains.
“I would have never known that if it wasn’t for a wish,” Kelli said.
Cole Kudrna was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
“I was battling the healthcare system at 19 years old and that’s something no kid or teenager should be doing,” Cole told the audience at the 2024 Nik’s Home Run event.
“I was contacted by Niks Wish in the Spring of 2023. About a month later, they started working with my parents behind my back which is very hard to do. They showed up to my house with a big genie rolling and they delivered the wish to me.”
Cole and his family went to Hawaii. “I could not thank you guys enough. So with that, Niks Wish deserves all the credit for everything you do for everyone”.
Cole has been cancer-free for 21 months.
Kelli has been featured on CNN Heroes. “So one day I’m at work and the phone rings and it’s this lady who says ‘Hey I’m from CNN Heroes. Somebody submitted your name.’”
From there, the CNN lady explained thousands of applications are submitted every day and told her to not get her hopes up.
“She called back again a few months later. I started to talk to her a little bit more about what we do and about our lamps, and I sent her some pictures. Before I know it they’re saying, ‘Hey, you’ve made it to the top 20 CNN Heroes.’”
Kelli was featured in a 7-minute segment that can be found on CNN’s website. The video includes an interview with Kelli, a follow-along of Kelli and her team delivering a wish, and a Wish Kids experience on their wish.
If you’d like to learn more about the organization or donate, head to this website:
https://nikolasritschelfoundation.org/
