Another Tuesday. Another set of kids, families Russell Wilson uplifts at Seattle Children’s

Earl Thomas enters Seahawks’ lore—or infamy—by flipping off his team’s sideline from the back of an injury cart.

Two days later, Russell Wilson enters Seattle Children’s hospital. He flips a pink football he just autographed to little Frida. Her agape mouth and her wide eyes show she’s about two solar systems over the moon.

On this Tuesday Wilson also flips the solemn lives of Hunter, of other kid patients. Their families. The hospital’s staff. Everyone there. For the better.

No, check that: for the best.

Yet again.

Wilson does this, visits the kids at Seattle Children’s, every Tuesday Seahawks off day.

Hunter is a cancer patient at Seattle Children’s. That makes him a genuine, foremost authority on courage. He talked with Wilson about courage on Tuesday, while they sat on his hospital bed in northeast Seattle.

“You inspire me, Hunter,” the Seahawks’ quarterback replied to the boy, while wearing yellow, protective outerwear required for visiting the sickest kids.

Their conversation is on a video Wilson posted to his Twitter account Tuesday.

“But the cool thing about you, Hunter, is you are inspiring some other kid that is going through what you are going through,” Wilson told him.

“And just how your family loves and cares, it’s really inspirational.”

Hunter nodded.

“I really hope that I can be an inspiration for people,” the boy said. “I want to be positive for people. And hopefully I can do that.”

“You are doing that, buddy,” Wilson said.

“You helped me do that,” Hunter told Wilson. “And I am really thankful for that.”

Wilson then told Hunter: “Why not you, brother?

“You are going to make it. We are praying for you. Continue the positive talk, just your self-talk. Your encouraging words. Your inspiration. You inspire me, that’s for sure.”

“Thank you, very much,” Hunter said, earnestly.

Seattle Children’s Hospital is the pediatric referral center for the Pacific Northwest. It has some of the region’s and the entire West Coast’s most serious and complex medical situations involving kids. Families from as far away as China seek Seattle Children’s specialists for their unique care.

The hospital is located in the Laurelhurst section of northeast Seattle. Wilson used to rent house in the neighborhood, until 2015 when he bought a mansion on Lake Washington in west Bellevue for his wife Ciara, their two kids and himself.

I’ve written about Wilson’s regular weekly visits to the hospital before, but it’s worth repeating: We can debate his choice of throws, whether he holds onto the ball too long or takes sacks he needn’t take, like we did in Seattle’s week-two loss at Chicago. We can say he’s not running enough this season, or that he needs to play better, his best game yet this season, for the Seahawks (2-2) to beat the mighty Los Angeles Rams (4-0) on Sunday at CenturyLink Field. Many knock him for his packaged public speaking and a persona that is almost too good to be true for some cynics.

But if you knock him for what he’s been doing every Tuesday in Seattle for years, you’ve got issues. Dark, keep-them-away-from-me issues.

To those who think it’s self-serving of Wilson to promote his Seattle Children’s visits, know this: the families of the kids he stops in to see absolutely love and cherish them. They cherish him.

So do the nurses, doctors, therapists, assistants and staff at the hospital. On Tuesdays there is giddy anticipation among them, among everyone, inside Seattle Children’s for Wilson’s visits.

My wife has been a speech-language pathologist on Seattle Children’s staff for 13 years. Wendy tells me that while the rest of Seattle celebrates “Blue Fridays” before Seahawks Sunday games, Seattle Children’s also celebrates “Blue Tuesdays.” Many of those in her hospital trade their medical scrubs and white lab coats for blue-and-green Seahawks gear on Tuesdays in anticipation of Wilson’s visits, then again on Fridays for his games.

Yes, most of that gear has number 3 on it. And, yes, he always shows up.

My wife has often gladly had to reschedule Tuesday bedside swallowing evaluations or therapy sessions around the hours the floors’ staff are leaving open as most likely when Wilson may drop in. Seems kids just don’t want to work as hard on their breathing techniques for some lady when Russell Wilson is on his way. Go figure.

See, Wilson isn’t hanging out in the hospital lobby or cafeteria fronting with the masses. He goes into the hospital’s most critical situations, into the intensive-care and cancer units. As his video with Hunter shows, he mocks up in the protective outerwear and gloves to be at the bedside of the most contagious and at-risk kids.

Minimizing Wilson’s visits or criticizing him as being self-serving for promoting them on social media is just ignorant. Fact is, Wilson’s visits and his online posts are sources of immeasurable pride and appreciation for the kids he is highlighting, and their families. Those of us who are not in those heart-breaking situations can’t even imagine. The hospital not only encourages Wilson’s posts, it shares his images and videos across the internet, on the Seattle Children’s Twitter account, @seattlechildren.

Maybe you don’t want to read this in your sports section, but this is the real-world truth: What Wilson does on Tuesdays is ultimately far more important, more impacting and valued, than what he does for the Seattle Seahawks on Sundays.

Trust me, what he does at Seattle Children’s means more to the families he touches inside there than his passing yards and Seahawks wins mean to everyone outside the hospital. And with how important we make the NFL in our society, that’s saying something.

Put it this way: Hunter is going love Wilson whether he throws for 300 yards and upsets the Rams on Sunday, or he throws four interceptions and the Seahawks get crushed by L.A.

Hunter and his family, Frida and hers, and so many others Wilson has uplifted there, they will love him forever.

“Root for Hunter,” Wilson said on Tuesday, ending his video with his fighter friend sitting next to him on that hospital bed.

“See you guys.”

They will. Next Tuesday. Same time. Same place.

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 7:16 AM.