CLEARFIELD - A Clearfield County boy diagnosed with rare medical conditions met his idol on Sunday.
Owen Zelinski, 12, of Clearfield, had Lady Gaga sing to him at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Owen suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome, which causes him to experience frequent catastrophic seizures. He's also been diagnosed with dysgenisis of the corpus callosum, which means the left and right sides of his brain can't communicate with each other.
His two disorders put Owen on the autism spectrum.
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In March, Owen's mother, Jenn Collins, posted a video on Facebook explaining her son's medical conditions and his love for the pop star. The family already had tickets to see Lady Gaga, but hoped the video would reach her and help give Owen the chance to meet her.
But it was the community who made his dream come true. Monetary donations from community members, Team Spartan Youth Group and their leader Todd Parisi and U.S. Marine Jared Luce helped the family afford meet and greet tickets with Lady Gaga.
"She leaned down to him, gave him a hug and said, 'I'm going to sing a song to you tonight, Owen,'" said Owen's stepfather, Ryan Collins.
But how she sang to Owen was a surprise to everyone. Lady Gaga brought him on stage to sit beside her, as she sang "Edge of Glory."
"He doesn't show emotion like a typical child would, but there was definitely a lot of emotion there," Jenn said. "When he leaned into her and put his head towards her, that was his way of saying that he loves her and thank you."
Not only did Owen meet his hero, their roles reversed.
Lady Gaga tweeted Jenn saying, "Your son is my hero. You guys are family. I'm so glad we got to meet."
Owen's story touched Lady Gaga and people from all over.
"The outreach that we've gotten from parents of special needs children has been overwhelming," Jenn said. "I think that if we can give one family hope and belief that miracles do happen, this would be a good way to do that and we will be better people for it."
Owen's parents plan to take him to Lady Gaga's next concert on Nov. 20 in Pittsburgh.
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