“This experience of being able to go to the Grammys is an amazing thing I’m so grateful for. It gives me a chance to stop worrying about what could happen at any second, medical condition-wise, and just focus on the moment,” said junior Heidi Seaman. “And it’s something I’ll be able to look back on when I will be having another heart surgery and could potentially stop worrying about the ‘what if’s’ of everything.”
Heidi is a Loy Norrix student who suffers from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a birth defect that causes the left side of the heart to be severely underdeveloped and restricts blood flow through the heart.
“Because of my medical condition my physical activities are limited so, there are certain sports I can’t try out for on fear of being hit in the chest.” Heidi continued, “ I can’t take any gym classes (which I’m not gonna complain about), and even just walking to get to my classes on time can cause me to be really out of breath and have chest pains. Then there are the small things like having to take several pills a day to keep my heart going and the constant worrying of what my heart is gonna flip out about that could potentially cause me to go the hospital.”

It is because of the life-threatening nature of her condition that Heidi was referred to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“My doctor referred me to Make-A-Wish because my condition is life-threatening and there’s a possibility of me having another surgery in the very near future, and it’s a thing that is something I can look back on when I’m about to go under for a surgery to help calm my nerves a little and to help me not focus so much on what could happen during the surgery,” said Heidi about the importance of her Make-A-Wish referral.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization that arranges once in a lifetime experiences called “wishes” for children with life-threatening health conditions. These wishes in the past have been everything from trips to Disney World to meeting favorite celebrities. The foundation is based in the United States and also grants wishes in 45 other countries across the world. They have granted over 285 thousand wishes, and grants a wish about every 38 minutes.

Heidi chose to attend the Grammys as her wish because of her love of music.
“I watch them every year, it’s one of my favorite awards shows,” said Heidi.
On January 28th, the day of the event, Heidi and her mom started their day in their hotel room in New York City where they got up early to get their hair and makeup done by professionals. Then they got to walk the red carpet and meet various celebrities.
“Meeting Nick Jonas [was her favorite]. I got to take a selfie with him, and it [the picture] was posted of me all over national television of me bawling my eyes out over him,” said Heidi.

In addition to that experience, there was the event itself.
“It was like, overwhelming and amazing all at the same time,” said Heidi. “There was a point where I started crying because I was so overwhelmed and excited. It was definitely one of the best experiences [of my life], there are no words to describe it. It was just amazing.”
After the event Heidi got to go to the after-party.
“It was really crowded in there, I didn’t get to see very much. I kinda just sat there and ate,” Heidi said.
They ended up getting back to their hotel room at 2:00 a.m. Heidi said, “It was a very long day. But the show was amazing, so definitely worth it.”

In addition to the Grammys, Heidi also got to tour the MTV studios and sit in on a live recording of the show TRL.
“I had a meet and greet with the Chainsmokers and Julia Michaels, it was awesome!” said Heidi.

Heidi also had a day of shopping where she got to go to Coach, Tiffany, Armani, Exchange, the Adidas New York store, Prada and Gucci.
“I saw Rihanna in disguise at Gucci,” Heidi reported. “I was all like ‘MOM, that’s, that’s Rihanna. That’s Rihanna In Gucci.’”
It’s those kinds of unexpected moments that make this trip even more special. This is definitely a story Heidi will be telling for a long time.
Even though the event is long over, and the glitz and glamour has been cleared away, for this Loy Norrix student, the glitter is definitely still in the air.