seattle boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day

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8/7/2019 Seattle boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/seattle-boy-with-cancer-turns-into-a-superhero-for-a-day 1/3 DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Make-A-Wish Foundation made 13-year-old Erik Martin's dream of becoming a superhero come true. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Electron Boy lances Blackout Boy (Jake Anderson) before turning on Dr. Dark (Edgar Hansen) in the battle between good and evil at the Space Needle. Erik Martin's dream of becoming a superhero came true Thursday. At left is Lightning Lad, played by actor Rob Burgess. Friday, April 30, 2010 - Page updated at 08:42 PM Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail [email protected] with your request. Local boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day By Katherine Long Seattle Times Eastside reporter Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called. Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people who knows that Erik, too, has a secret identity â  !” he's Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil with light. And Spider-Man needed Erik's help. Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle. The local chapter, which serves four states, grants more than 300 wishes every year to children with life-threatening medical conditions, but only a few of them involve so many participants. Pulling off a wish like this one required a big story, and a lot of heart. And so, with a note of panic in his voice, Spider-Man explained the dilemma: "Dr. Dark" and "Blackout Boy" had imprisoned the Seattle Sounders in a locker room at Qwest Field. Only Electron Boy could free them. Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20 motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department and King County and Snohomish sheriff's offices escorted

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Page 1: Seattle boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day

8/7/2019 Seattle boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/seattle-boy-with-cancer-turns-into-a-superhero-for-a-day 1/3

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The Make-A-Wish Foundation made 13-year-old Erik

Martin's dream of becoming a superhero come true.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Electron Boy lances Blackout Boy (Jake Anderson) before

turning on Dr. Dark (Edgar Hansen) in the battle between

good and evil at the Space Needle. Erik Martin's dream of 

becoming a superhero came true Thursday. At left is

Lightning Lad, played by actor Rob Burgess.

Friday, April 30, 2010 - Page updated at 08:42 PM

Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The

Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail [email protected] with your request.

Local boy with cancer turnsinto a superhero for a day

By Katherine Long

Seattle Times Eastside reporter 

Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day

for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something

extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called.

Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people whoknows that Erik, too, has a secret identity â !” he's

Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil

with light.

And Spider-Man needed Erik's help.

Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to

be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the

Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an

elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in

Bellevue and Seattle.

The local chapter, which serves four states, grants more

than 300 wishes every year to children with

life-threatening medical conditions, but only a few of them

involve so many participants.

Pulling off a wish like this one required a big story, and a

lot of heart. And so, with a note of panic in his voice,

Spider-Man explained the dilemma: "Dr. Dark" and

"Blackout Boy" had imprisoned the Seattle Sounders in a

locker room at Qwest Field. Only Electron Boy could freethem.

Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and

called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a

DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20

motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department

and King County and Snohomish sheriff's offices escorted

Page 2: Seattle boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day

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DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

A crowd of better than 200 gather outside Puget Sound

Energy in Bellevue to cheer on Electron Boy as he saves a

stranded worker in a bucket truck on Thursday.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The Seattle Sounders are grateful as they meet Electron

Boy, aka Erik Martin, who has freed them from their Qwest

Field locker room Thursday. The Make-A-Wish Foundation

arranged the adventure.

Electron Boy to Seattle.

"They shut down 405 â !” they shut down I-90," marveled

Moonshine Maid, aka Misty Peterson. "I thought it would

 just be me, in the car."

At Qwest Field, Electron Boy was directed by frantic fans

to the Sounders locker room, where the entire team was

shouting for help behind jammed doors. With a little help

from Lightning Lad, the alter ego of local actor Rob

Burgess, Erik opened the door with his lightning rod. The

Sounders cheered.

"Thank you, Electron Boy," said defender Taylor Graham.

"You saved us!" exclaimed forward Nate Jaqua.

"Good job, big man," said defender Tyrone Marshall. And

forward Steve Zakuani mutely bowed his thanks.

Electron Boy seemed a little dazed by his powers. Out on Qwest Field, the Sounders gave Erik a hero's

congratulations, posed for pictures and gave him a jersey and autographed ball.

Everyone was startled when, overhead, the Jumbotron crackled to life.

"Electron Boy, I am Dr. Dark and this is Blackout Boy," sneered an evil voice, as the villain â !” Edgar Hansen,

and his sidekick Jake Anderson, both of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" â !” taunted the young

superhero. "We are here to take over Seattle and make it dark!"

On the Jumbotron, a video showed a Puget Sound Electric employee Jim Hutchinson trapped in the top of his

bucket truck in front of PSE's Bellevue headquarters. Only Electron Boy could save him.

As Electron Boy's motorcade â !” the DeLorean, the 25 motorcycle officers and a white limo â !” rolled through

downtown Bellevue, pedestrians stopped in their tracks and pulled out their cameras to take pictures. Clearly,

somebody famous was in town. But who could it be?

"It's Electron Boy," Erik's older sister, Charlotte Foote, shouted out the window of the limousine.

More than 250 PSE employees gathered outside the company's headquarters and cheered as Electron Boy

freed the trapped worker. "It was so loud, people in office buildings were looking out the window," said

Make-A-Wish communications director Jeannette Tarcha.

But Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy were still at large. Electron Boy got a tip that the evil duo were at the Space

Needle, where they had disabled the elevator and trapped people on the observation deck. Racing back to

Seattle, Electron Boy stepped out of the DeLorean to a cheering crowd of dozens of admirers, and confronted

his nemesis.

"How did you find us, Electron Boy?" Dr. Dark demanded.

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Erik wordlessly leapt at Dr. Dark with his lightning rod, freezing the villain. Then he unlocked the elevator and

freed the people trapped upstairs.

Bellevue police Officer Curtis McIvor snapped handcuffs on Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy, who couldn't resist

some last words: "How can we thank you for saving our souls?"

A tiny smile played around Electron Boy's mouth. Just for good measure, he held his lightning sword to

Blackout Boy's throat again. The crowd went wild. "Hip-hip, hooray!"

Seattle City Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw stepped forward with a key to the city and a proclamation that

Thursday was Electron Boy Day. Afterward, Erik posed for the TV cameras, flexed his muscles and spent

some time astride a Bellevue police motorcycle.

"He's over the moon," said Foote. "This is definitely beyond anything we thought it would be."

Watching her son run across the plaza in front of the Space Needle, mom Judy Martin said Erik goes to

school when he's able, but is often too tired. "He hasn't had this much energy in a long time," she said. "They

called it the power of the wish, and they're right."

Like any good superhero, Electron Boy kept his innermost thoughts to himself. But he did have one important

thing to say:

"This is the best day of my life."

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or [email protected]

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company