Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Patient Designs for a Cause

Ellen Washington holds up her completed design for Christian McCaffrey’s cleats.

Ellen Washington, 19, can’t contain her excitement. A lifelong San Francisco 49ers fan, she is going to a game on Dec. 8 to watch her favorite player, Christian McCaffrey, and team take on the Chicago Bears.

“CMC is a powerhouse for the Niners,” Ellen says. “Me and my brother always cheer for him when he’s on the field.”

It’s even more special because Ellen designed the cleats he’ll be wearing.

“These are some pretty sick bragging rights I have now over my brother,” she says. “It means so much that CMC is wearing something I designed. I’m honestly still in shock.”

Every year, players wear customized cleats to honor the causes they’ve chosen to support during the National Football League’s My Cause My Cleats campaign. The Christian McCaffrey Foundation is dedicating this year to The Logan Project, which places specialized gaming consoles in children’s hospitals to foster normalcy and outside connection for patients receiving treatment.

Hospitalization is something Ellen is familiar with. At a young age, she was diagnosed with a rare lung disease called primary ciliary dyskinesia. It can lead to chronic lung, ear, and sinus infections.

“Once in a while, it is hard to live out in the real world without treatment, so when I have a flare-up, I come to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to see the pulmonary team,” she says.

Her last flare-up sidelined her from a half marathon across the Golden Gate Bridge this fall. As an avid runner, she was upset. But while she was at Packard Children’s getting treatment, she heard that the Christian McCaffrey Foundation was looking for a patient to design McCaffrey’s cleats. She drew on her medical experience and love for the 49ers to inspire her.

“When I think about the city, I think about the ocean and how I’ve always gone there to sail and see the Blue Angels fly over the bay,” she explains. “The bridge is a big staple, and I was supposed to run across it, so I definitely wanted to include it in there. I think it represents San Francisco very well.”

Ellen is home now and has a lot to look forward to. She’s getting back to training, as she is preparing for the Hot Cocoa Run in January. But before that, she and her family of Niners fans can’t wait for the game.

“I’m now feeling so much better and more like myself,” she says. “Coincidentally, I actually saved up to buy my brother tickets to the Niners game on Dec. 8 for his 17th birthday. Now, I’ll be at the game celebrating two exciting moments.”

After the game, the cleats will be auctioned off to benefit Packard Children’s on behalf of the Christian McCaffrey Foundation’s Logan Project.