Little boy wishes on a baseball

R-I-L-E-Y.

"What’s that say?” Suzanne Galante asked her son.

"Me,” he said with a smile.

The energetic San Carlos boy will be traveling with his family to watch the Baltimore Orioles play thanks to the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation. Norton was born with congenital heart defects. Hours after birth, doctors recognized his heart had only one chamber instead of four; all his organs were on the opposite side of his body; and he’s missing his spleen. Eventually Norton will need a heart transplant. In the meantime, he attempts to live a normal life despite challenges and hospital stays.

His parents want him to really enjoy the times when Norton is healthy, so they submitted an application to Make-A-Wish.

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Many of these children. Most of the children go on to live fulfilling lives, said volunteer manager Jennifer Johnson, who was one of the volunteers working to make Norton’s wish come true.

The pint-size youth is a big baseball fan sprouting information about his favorite parks and players. He likes Barry Bonds, since Bonds hits home runs.

"He needs one more,” Norton added without being quite sure what the one run meant.

When asked his wish, Norton wanted to watch the Orioles play. During his last stay in the hospital — a 60-day stint — he had a book of baseball parks in the past and present. The family spent time discussing who they know who live near the various parks.

Now Norton, his parents and his 1-year-old brother Carter will be traveling to Baltimore. The family has game tickets and a special pass to attend batting practice, as well as meet some players.

To count down to the big trip, Norton made a construction-paper link chain removing one link a day until the day they leave. The purple link marks the big day.

Norton is silly and full of energy in the days leading up to the big trip. But it wasn’t always that way.

He was whisked off from the hospital in Santa Rosa to the UCSF Medical Center. At 6 days old, Norton had his first surgery — the first part of a three-stage surgery to help his heart work in a typical fashion. The second surgery came at 15 months. Recovery for Norton also included him learning to walk again. His third surgery came before his third birthday — which he celebrated in the hospital. The final surgery was supposed to change his circulation but Norton rejected the surgery resulting in a new rare condition.

His body was losing protein. He had to have surgeries reverting to the way blood was circulated after the second surgery. The illness kicked in weeks after Norton began preschool. He left preschool and spent 60 days in the hospital. His family split the shifts with mom in the daytime, and his dad, Kenneth Norton, and "grampy” splitting the evening.

Despite the scary surroundings, Norton described the hospital in a positive light. He enjoyed the all-star room which had games and computers. He doesn’t even mind medicine, however, he hasn’t known life without it.

Surgeries are scary, though. And Norton doesn’t care for stitches. He got stitches on his stomach but couldn’t pull them out.

At the moment Norton is doing fairly well. He’s back in preschool, just started back in July.

Surgeries can be done to help postpone the need. But the scariest thing for Galante is not knowing when Norton will need to go to the hospital again.

Norton isn’t alone. Kenneth Norton pointed out heart defects are the number one ailment of newborns, his son’s case is just on the severe side.

"Because we know he goes through periods of severe illness, we wanted to do something when he can actually enjoy it,” said Kenneth Norton. "When he can actually go somewhere and do something and enjoy it.”

To get updates on Riley Norton visit his blog at www.rileynorton.com. For more information about the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation visit www.makewish.com. For more information about congenital heart defects visit www.tchin.org.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.