Brilea Sontharu, 15, has not stepped outside Riley Hospital for Children for nearly a year, after suffering severe injuries in a car crash last December. So, the Terre Haute resident cried Wednesday when she learned she would be leaving the hospital this weekend — if only for an evening — to see her icon Taylor Swift perform live at Lucas Oil Stadium during the final U.S. leg of the sold-out The Eras Tour.
Throughout the last 10 months, Brilea has admired the global superstar from afar, staying up late to watch The Eras Tour when it hit Disney+ and making pink and silver friendship bracelets with her family.
But she knew she had little chance of her seeing a show in person as she was not scheduled to leave the hospital until after the tour ended. So Brilea could not contain her excitement Wednesday when she learned she will be one of 16 Riley patients who will attend the Sunday night concert in a suite.
“There’s no way this is true,” Brilea said. “No way this is true. It’s crazy.”
Brilea and the other Swift fans, all of them girls, attended what they thought was just a bracelet making party to celebrate the upcoming Eras Tour shows in town.
Then in a game of trivia, Riley staff asked who would be going to the concert, to which patients guessed, “Travis Kelce?”
No, they were told. You!
Tears flowed down many of their faces as the shock slowly wore off.
“Today’s been the worst because more and more of the staff knew so I was so afraid someone would tell her the surprise,” Brilea’s mother Paula Allen said Wednesday.
Lora Denny, a Riley donor, has a suite at Lucas Oil Stadium through her family business Denny Companies, a demolition company. Denny purchased the suites for the three Eras Tour shows and more than a year ago, she contacted Riley about planning a special surprise.
How to buy Eras Tour merch in Indy:And no, you don’t need a concert ticket
After Denny donated the suite, doctors and nurses at Riley submitted nominations of patients, most of whom are outpatients, who are huge Swifties to attend the show. Of those, 16 kids were chosen. Each will bring a family member to the show.
The kids will receive a police escort to the concert, and Lucas Oil staff along with Riley caretakers will help things go smoothly.
Nine-year-old Nora Thurman first went to Riley seven years ago after a traumatic brain injury. She continues to have follow-up appointments and often listens to Taylor Swift songs to take her mind off the medical procedures.
Nora says her favorite song is “Bad Blood,” and shows off the sequined clear pouch she plans to bring to Lucas Oil Stadium. She’s known to her doctors as a dedicated Swiftie and has turned some of her family member into fans.
“I feel like this is a dream,” she said.
For her mother Thia Thurman, it’s just one of the many ways Riley has helped her daughter.
“We are incredibly lucky to be so close to Riley,” she said.
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