St. Thomas, Ont. teenager with terminal illness gets dying wish to meet Toronto Blue Jays players

A St. Thomas teen with a terminal illness returned from Florida after meeting his favourite Blue Jays players at spring training. Brent Lale reports.

Weslee Johnson, 17, sat up in his new hospital bed to show off the souvenirs from his trip to Dunedin, FLA.

“This one’s an autographed ball I got from the training centre when I went to go see Trey (Yesavage) and Davis Schneider,” said Johnson, whose dying wish was to attend a Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training game.

Johnson can’t stop smiling about his experience.

Born with a congenital heart disease called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, it causes an underdeveloped left ventricle of the heart.

He had multiple surgeries and used different medications to try to fix it, but it got to a point where nothing else could be done.

Given just weeks to live, the final wish for the St. Thomas, Ont. teenager was to attend a game and meet Yesavage, his favourite player.

“There definitely isn’t words to explain how incredibly thankful and grateful we are to everybody who either, donated, shared the GoFundMe, made a phone call, made an email, tagged a post,” said Jennah Johnson, Weslee’s mom.

“The Jays definitely knew we were coming, so they spoiled us rotten”.

After CTV News shared Johnson’s story, Sportsnet’s Blue Jays Central host Jamie Campbell visited the Johnson’s family home. His post on social media sharing their fundraiser helped raise tens of thousands of dollars to help pay for their trip.

After arriving in Dunedin and spending a couple of days at a house, it was finally the day to attend the game.

Their experience started at the spring training facility, where they met up with Yesavage and Schneider where they got some autographs and a tour of the complex.

After heading home to rest for a couple of hours, it was time to return to see the game between the Jays and Atlanta Braves.

“I was definitely shocked that I was able to go down to field level for their warm up and watch their batting practice up close,” said Wes.

“I got to meet a few players there too.”

Those superstars included George Springer, Addison Barger and Dalton Varsho. He also met up with broadcasters Ben Shulman and Joe Siddall.

He received the full VIP experience which included merchandise from the Jays Shop.

“He wanted to go to a game and he ended up getting this life-changing day,” said Jennah.

“It changed our lives for the better and definitely the end of his life for sure.”

It was capped off with a 7-0 shutout victory.

“Since we’ve been home, we’ve talked nonstop about the game and how incredible the experience was,” said Jennah.

“He’s told me that the day of the game is the best day of his life, except for the day that his two little brothers were born”.

We first met Wes in February when his family decided to hold a living celebration of life.

He knows he won’t live much longer.

“I just tried to live life with no regrets,” said Wes. “I just try and live every day like it’s your last and stay positive.”

During their Florida trip, his health started to rapidly decline, forcing them to return home early.

“Things did not go super, super well for him in terms of his health after the game,” said Jennah.

“He rallied through the actual the day and put his all into it. The Jays put their all into it, and it turned out to be one of the most incredible experiences”.

Since returning home, he has a new hospital bed in the front room and a tv to watch baseball and play video games.

As he spends his final days with family, he’s remembering this special experience.

“It really was a dream come true,” said Wes.

In just a couple of days, he’ll receive another special wish.

The St. Thomas Police Service will hold a special badging ceremony on Wednesday March 25.

Chief Marc Roskamp will formally bestow the title of Honourary Cadet to Johnson who has expressed wish to experience what it means to be a police officer.