Johnny Depp has made a dying fan’s wish come true by transforming into Captain Jack Sparrow and surprising the young boy with a personal phone call. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor decided to do something special for 11-year-old Kori, and it truly made his day.
- Kori has hypoplastic left heart syndrome. His condition restricts blood flow to the heart, and despite having two heart transplants in the past four years, his body has rejected the organs and his medical team believe he is out of options. He’s now receiving palliative care and doctors believe it’s a matter of time before he sadly passes away.
- Kori and his mom, Pixi, are trying to remain positive. Learning that your child will not live to become an adult is devastating. However, mom and son are trying to stay strong. “He has always stated if he ever needed another transplant, it is something he would never go through again so the second they told me the news, I knew this was only ever going to go one way,” Pixi told BBC News. “The first transplant wasn’t easy but it went quite well. The second one was extremely traumatic for him. It was extremely painful and drawn-out and he had to learn to walk and talk [again]. He said he would much rather pass away than have to go through anything like that ever, ever again. It wasn’t just his decision, it was with the medical team as well, and it wasn’t taken lightly, but he has had a big part in this decision and he understands what is going to happen.”
- Captain Kori started his YouTube channel, Kraken The Box, in early December 2022. While he had about 10,000 subscribers a few days ago, that number jumped to nearly 200,000 after Johnny Depp appeared as Captain Jack Sparrow in a video on the channel. The video message was received as part of the Make a Wish charity.
- Johnny Depp went all out to bring Captain Jack Sparrow to life for Kori. He stays in character throughout the message, sending him well wishes and vowing to get the 11-year-old more followers. “Captain Kori… I understand you’re quite the YouYube channel man, or you shall be and all that YouTubeness,” Depp says in the video. “So what I’m saying is I shall be glad to follow your YouTube channel and I shall tell all my friends to follow your YouTube channel. And that, I think, will make for a wonderful entertainment… momentary lapse of togetherness.” He adds: “I shall be there, watching moments with you… tubing-you YouTubing. I wish you the best of luck, I’m your number one fan Captain Kori, all respect and love mate.”
- Depp even FaceTimed with Kori. A pre-recorded message wasn’t enough for the actor. Depp had a personal FaceTime session with the boy and kept up the Captain Jack Sparrow persona. He even pretended he was on a ship throughout the call. While the circumstances surrounding the call are extremely sad, this is a heartwarming story.
