Little Pilgrim of Hope: The Story of Francisco Fredrickson

Laura, thank you for joining me today.

Thank you so much for having me, Brendan.

Well, we can dive in.

Before we talk about his illness or anything that happened later in his life, I want you to just introduce to us your son.

Who was Francisco? What did he love? What made him laugh? Who was the little boy that you knew and loved?

Oh, man.

He is, as I always say, the awesomest little dude.

He was just so full of joy from the get-go.

From a very, very young age, he was this little ball of energy.

And...

Yeah, he just made friends wherever he went.

He was the chattiest little dude around.

He loved all things space.

He was all about space, all things NASA.

He wanted to be an astronaut.

We went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida a couple of times with him.

And he was the guide for us.

He walked around and told us about every mission, every spacecraft.

He knew all the things, which was incredible.

And he loved his faith.

He had such a deep faith from way before we had the chance to teach him about it.

He would come up with these things that I'd be like, where did you even get that from? He was talking to us about heaven at five years old.

He was lecturing me on how he would see my grandpa again after he passed away.

And this was in the middle of a pandemic.

So I remember thinking, I haven't talked to Francisco about heaven or death or anything.

Laura, thank you for joining me today.

Thank you so much for having me, Brendan.

Well, we can dive in.

Before we talk about his illness or anything that happened later in his life, I want you to just introduce to us your son.

Who was Francisco? What did he love? What made him laugh? Who was the little boy that you knew and loved?

Oh, man.

He is, as I always say, the awesomest little dude.

He was just so full of joy from the get-go.

From a very, very young age, he was this little ball of energy.

And...

Yeah, he just made friends wherever he went.

He was the chattiest little dude around.

He loved all things space.

He was all about space, all things NASA.

He wanted to be an astronaut.

We went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida a couple of times with him.

And he was the guide for us.

He walked around and told us about every mission, every spacecraft.

He knew all the things, which was incredible.

And he loved his faith.

He had such a deep faith from way before we had the chance to teach him about it.

He would come up with these things that I'd be like, where did you even get that from? He was talking to us about heaven at five years old.

He was lecturing me on how he would see my grandpa again after he passed away.

And this was in the middle of a pandemic.

So I remember thinking, I haven't talked to Francisco about heaven or death or anything.