Not being able to walk won't stop one 4-year-old from running a Columbus 5K this weekend

Maverick Harris, like many 4-year-old boys, loves to be outside.

"It's like his happy place," Jaime Harris, Maverick's mother, said. "We take him out, and if he's unhappy, he's immediately calm."

He especially loves feeling the breeze as he's running, or at least as he's pushed by someone running with a stroller that totes both he and the ventilator he needs to stay alive.

Maverick has one of the most rare neurodegenerative conditions in the world, a disease called KIF1A. It's left him a wheelchair user and nonverbal. He has seizures and is visually impaired. He also requires a ventilator at all times, and due to Maverick's unique mutation of the disease, how long he'll live isn't clear.

What is clear is that he's outgrown his beloved stroller — the mechanism to experience his favorite place and do his favorite thing.

That's where a partnership between Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and Lifeline of Ohio, a nonprofit organization that promotes and coordinates organ donation, stepped in. For the last week, Maverick and his parents, Jaime and Blake Harris, from Tipp City, Ohio, have been training hard for Lifeline's Dash for Donation on Saturday at Columbus' Genoa Park.

There, they'll premiere the brand new stroller adapted for Maverick's condition and his ventilator.

"It allows us to be his legs and run for him," Jaime Harris said.

A family tradition kept

While Maverick can't verbally communicate, he's a very expressive child, Jaime Harris said. His eyes get wide when he's excited about something, and he shrugs his shoulders or waves his arms when he's upset. Sometimes, he pretends to be asleep if he isn't particularly interested in an activity, like going to the doctor's office. But his mom said that never happens when he's ready to be outside.

"His eyes will just get really big. You can tell that he's, in his own way, kind of looking around and taking it all in," Jamie Harris said. "We always know if he's not ready to come in, because as soon as we bring him in, he'll get red in the face to just let us know, like, 'Hey, I wasn't done being outside yet'."

So when it came to granting Maverick a wish, the Harris family looked no further than a new jogging stroller.

"It's not an unusual wish. We've had those in the past," said Stephanie McCormick, CEO and president of Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, "But this allows Maverick to be able to join the family and participate in this incredible tradition that they've always had."

The Harris family and their loved ones have been running in Lifeline's Dash for Donation for more than a decade, as organ donation is a cause close to their hearts.

Blake Harris' father, Rodney Harris, received multiple kidney transplants before he passed away in 2023. Upon his death, he became an eye donor. Zach Little, Jaime Harris' stepfather, received a heart transplant in 2014. The transplants allowed both of Maverick's grandfathers to live long enough to meet their grandson. Harris said Little will be at the event cheering on Maverick and participating in some form.

Guest Writer: An organ donor gave me more time with my wife. Those memories will last a lifetime.

Now, with his new stroller, Maverick can carry the torch of honoring the recipients saved and the donors that saved them. While Jaime Harris described the situation as tough, her son still radiates "pure joy."

"When we picked out the name Maverick for him, we didn't know how well-fitting it was going to be," Jaime Harris said.

Want to participate with Maverick? Registration for the dash is still open

Maverick and his team, Maverick's Mighty Make-A-Wish Walkers, will participate in Lifeline of Ohio's 25th Dash for Donation in Columbus this week as part of the effort to raise money and awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation.

Registration opens at 6:30 a.m. on race day, Saturday, but those hoping to join in the cause can also sign up online before then or donate directly. The fun officially begins at 8 a.m. in Genoa Park, where more than 2,000 people are already expected to participate.

Thanks to more than 150 volunteers, events include a 5K run or walk, a one-mile "Family Fun Walk" and the "Kids and Mascots Dash," a race for children 7 years old and younger featuring Lifeline of Ohio's Honey Bee and her mascot friends from around central Ohio.

In addition to the actual walks or runs, there will be a "Celebration Wall" for the families of donors, who are encouraged to create posters commemorating their loved one's organ, eye or tissue donation.

There will also be a "Circle of Life Garden," where more than 100 signs will be put up in honor of those who passed away while waiting for an organ transplant.

Samantha Hendrickson is The Columbus Dispatch's medical business and health care reporter. She can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Make-A-Wish helping Ohio kid run Columbus 5k with special wheelchair