Sawyer’s Story
Here at Kicks for Causes, we’re all about spreading inspiring stories centered around good causes, especially if they involve dope shoes. So when we were lucky enough to grab a pair of Sawyer Miller’s Doernbecher Freestyle Zoom Pegasus 2, and connect with Team Sawyer on Instagram, we wanted to tell more of his story! Sawyer has been on quite a journey and we wanted to tell as much of it as we could, from battling a brain tumor, to working with Nike designers, to his favorite desserts. We put together a blog post to help share his inspiring story. Read on below!
Sawyer Miller (Credit: Nike)
From an early age, Sawyer had a ton of energy, which his parents realized needed to be channeled into gymnastics. “My parents put me in gymnastics when I was 6 because I kept flipping over all the furniture,” he explained. However, an unexpected outcome of joining gymnastics was the discovery of a brain tumor. “I felt dizzy when doing flips and couldn’t learn my routines. My parents had me going to all sorts of doctors. Most doctors just thought I had vertigo,” Sawyer told us.
What began as flips over furniture would lead to a diagnosis that would turn Sawyer’s world upside down. On Christmas day, Sawyer had a severe episode, leading to a visit to the doctor. The doctor immediately recommended an MRI. In Sawyer’s words: “I had an egg-sized tumor (ependymoma).” It turns out that the dizziness Sawyer was experiencing in gymnastics was from something much worse. “I was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 10.”
The day after getting the MRI results back, Sawyer was in surgery. The Millers are from Bend, Oregon, and would make the more-than-three hour drive for surgery at Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. Though the Millers were afraid, Doernbecher is ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals nationally, and the staff did everything they could to make things as easy as possible for Sawyer and his family. “Everyone is very nice and will do anything for you,” Sawyer told us. That definitely includes Dr. Nate Selden, who performed the surgery to remove Sawyer’s brain tumor two years ago. The surgery was scheduled to be 14 hours long, but was completed in just over seven. “Dr. Selden is my hero,” Sawyer says. “He did such a good job on my surgery.”
Dr. Selden (Credit: OHSU)
While the team at Doernbecher was instrumental in saving his life, Sawyer also had a great support network from his school back in Bend. The treatment required him to spend a lot of time in Portland, but even from afar, his classmates and teachers showed their support in a special way. Sawyer’s favorite color is green, and his favorite animal is the panda bear, so Sawyer’s school decided to show their support and solidarity by wearing green shirts with pandas on them every Friday. “At first I was embarrassed that I was getting so much attention and then after several months of everyone wearing the shirts every Friday, I became used to it.” This, along with the support from his family, became the foundation of Team Sawyer. “It feels so good to have so much support in my community,” Sawyer said. What an amazing team!
It’s been quite a journey for Sawyer since the initial diagnosis several years ago. He endured the initial brain surgery and over 30 rounds of radiation, and was at Doernbecher for about seven weeks. Even now he has regular check ups at Doernbecher every three months or so. This would be enough to get anyone down, but through it all, Sawyer has kept his energy and even created a unique celebration for when he gets good news Professional athletes are known for their personal celebrations after a big play: Vince Carter signaling “it’s over” after winning the dunk contest, Victor Cruz doing the salsa after a touchdown catch, Dikembe Mutumbo wagging his finger after a blocked shot. Sawyer may not be a professional athlete, but his celebration is certainly on par! After every time a scan comes back with good news at Doernbecher, Sawyer executes the perfect handstand, and the moment is captured by his mom and put on Team Sawyer’s social media to spread the good news. We love the spirit in this, and it’s a great reminder for all of us to celebrate, even if times can be tough.
Sawyer in action (credit: OHSU)
There was certainly even more to celebrate in 2019. Sawyer was selected to be one of the Super Six, a group of six patients at Doernbecher selected to be part of the annual Doernbecher Freestyle program. The Freestyle program, now in its 16th year, is a partnership with Nike where the selected patients get to work with a team of designers and create their own custom shoes and clothes. All proceeds go directly back to Doernbecher’s areas of need, and the program has now raised over $24 million. The process of being selected was actually pretty rigorous: “A representative of the OHSU Foundation came and interviewed me and my family. It was about a 6 month process to hear back if I actually got in,” Sawyer explains.
Once Sawyer was selected as one of the Super Six, the work on the shoe began. We’ll let Sawyer walk you through the design process: “Nike gives you coloring sheets of the shoe that they have chosen for you. I did several color renditions, and sent them three of my favorites. When you meet the team for the first time they are well prepared with some ideas to enhance what I had originally had created and lots of materials and color samples were available. The team was amazing. They listened to me and did everything I asked.”
The end result is an incredible shoe! There are many unique, intricate details that are deeply personal to Sawyer. The shoe is draped in a green colorway and features a panda playfully munching on the Nike swoosh, an awesome shout-out to Team Sawyer and the shirts the team wears. Sawyer also included the names of the doctors who treated him at Doernbecher, including Dr. Selden, Dr. Becca, and Dr. Jaboin. He also included his siblings names on the shoe, and even put his dog’s paw print on the bottom. Of course, an outline of Sawyer doing his patented handstand celebration adorns the outside of the heel. “I love the way my product turned out!”
“Not only is my shoe for a good cause, it’s also perfect for dancing, tennis and doing flips. So go ahead — join Team Sawyer!” Sawyer might have a future in sales, because his pitch helped his shoe sell out in minutes when it was released on December 7, 2019. “I was shocked that they sold out so fast. I learned a lot about sneaker culture. Had no idea that people really love the Doernbecher shoes so much.” The shoes are so popular that they even went for 125% of their retail price on popular reselling sites.
Sawyer got to experience the release of the shoe at Nike’s downtown Portland store, in a special Freestyle release event. “On launch day, there were tons of people lined up outside the Nike Portland store, just to buy one pair of the Doernbechers. I had so much fun that day. I felt like part of the Nike family. I signed lots of posters, shoes, boxes and even a baby! The connections I have made offline and online have been truly wonderful. I’m not one for trying to get attention, but this was such a meaningful, fun process. Really helps distract me from my diagnosis.”
Now several months later, things have settled down after the craziness of the Doernbecher Freestyle release. “It was a blast going through the process. I will be honest that it was exhausting meeting so many people. I’m enjoying the downtime right now,” Sawyer said. That’s certainly understandable after a whirlwind few years, culminating with the Freestyle release. While Sawyer is still doing flips, he has also gotten a chance to find some other hobbies: “I love to dance, ski, play tennis and pickle ball. I also like to draw and cook.”
The baking in particular caught our interest (what can we say, we have a sweet tooth here at Kicks for Causes!). We asked Sawyer a little more about some of his favorite desserts, and the answer might surprise you. “I love making desserts, but now that I eat low carb, treats are limited. I make a keto chocolate cheesecake that my mom loves. I recently took a cooking class and we made macaroons. I would have to say that my favorite desserts are crepes. I had crepes instead of a birthday cake last year.” Sawyer is certainly multi-talented!
Sawyer has been through a lot in the last several years, but it is truly inspiring to see his perseverance. We’re excited and honored to be able to share his story, and to call ourselves part of Team Sawyer! You can follow Sawyer’s journey on Instagram @_teamsawyer_ and maybe even try out a handstand of your own next time you’re looking to celebrate!
Stay tuned to kicksforcauses.org for more stories on the intersection of good causes and sneaker culture! We still have some of the Doernbecher 2019 collection in our kicks inventory, with all profits going to charity.
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