NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A 12-year-old cancer survivor used his Make-A-Wish to donate LEGO sets to children at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
His story inspiring hundreds of additional donations.
Ollie Faircloth spent years deciding on his wish. Instead of a trip or meeting a celebrity, he chose to give back to others facing what he went through.
Ollie battled an aggressive form of cancer. During his treatments, he said the building blocks became a lifeline.
"They helped me just get away from all of the troubles I was going through and help me not be so stressed about treatments and stuff and just, they helped me stay positive," Ollie said.
"I knew how hard it was being in the hospital and not having anything to do if I didn’t have anything," Ollie said.
On Monday, Ollie delivered the LEGOs. When a hospital staff member asked about his wish, he explained his goal.
"Yeah I wanted to get all these LEGOs for the kids in the hospital," Ollie said.
Hundreds of LEGO sets will now go to help pediatric patients during their stays in the hospital.
His selfless act caught the attention of Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee. Beth Torres works with the organization.
"I think everyone in our office was inspired and because of that, we started sharing Ollie’s story," said Beth Torres with Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee. "And he inspired a donation of more than 514 additional LEGO sets for kids here in the hospital."
I wanted to meet the people who helped raise someone so selfless. When asked about his decision, Ollie's mom said he wanted his wish to have a lasting impact.
"You know he really wanted to leave something," said Miah Faircloth, Ollie's mom. That’s really what he wanted to do."
"I remember him saying, you know, he would like to have done a trip, you know we talked about it, but he said I really want something to be left over," Miah said.
For Ollie, the donation was about making the hospital a little better for those in the shoes he once wore.
"Well, to me this day has meant just amazing things knowing that these kids are going to hopefully be happier with these LEGOs," he said. "Even if times are good for you, someone else out there might be still be struggling and we need to help them no matter what."
"I just felt so happy knowing that I can inspire other people to do good things as well, like I can do," he added.
The following donors played a role in this special day:
Bricks & Minifigs Hendersonville
Howden
Jetright
Topp Notch Electric LLC
Lifecycle Gym
Lego Store Opry Mills
Green Hill High School
Beech High School
PGA Tour
PWC
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It's has been a dry spring for us. Nashville is over 6 inches below normal for rainfall for the year with Clarksville over a 9 inches deficit. Kim Rafferty went to a nursery to get a couple of tips that may be useful for you.
- Lelan Statom
