Make-A-Wish grants Gleason girl her dream barrel racing horse

On Mar. 10, 2024, during her barrel racing run at Chism Trail in Merrill, 10-year-old Liliana “Lili” Boquist suddenly went limp and slid right off the horse she was riding (also named Lily) and onto the dirt in the arena. I — and many others — were watching the event being livestreamed from Chism’s when we all saw it happen and the livestream feed was quickly cut.
On-site at Chism, Jeff Chism, owner of Chism Trail Ranch and a podiatrist, and four other individuals who were in the audience at the event, some of whom were nurses and medical professionals, immediately rushed to Lily and began CPR. Taking turns, they continued CPR for 34 minutes before the ambulance arrived. That quick response and sustained effort literally saved Lili’s life.
Doctors later learned that Lili had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Her heart had completely stopped.
Lili’s parents, Laura and Andy Boquist, weren’t in attendance when this harrowing, nearly tragic event occurred.
“Ironically, that was the only day that Andy and I weren’t there to watch her race,” Laura said. “At first she wasn’t planning on racing that day ...”

“She was going to watch and hang out with her friends, and I had something else to do,” she said. “But then she had an opportunity to ride Lily, one of their [Chism’s] horses.”
“We know them, so we were fine with that,” Laura said.
When Laura received the call alerting her to the emergency, Lili was already in an ambulance en route to the hospital.
“They kind of frantically called me ... There’s been a serious accident,” Laura said. “In hindsight, that was a blessing ... that was a lot of chaos and fear ... I don’t know if Andy and I ... would’ve wanted to be there when all that happened.”
“The doctors immediately said whoever did the CPR is what saved her,” she said. “It was so good. And thankfully, Jeff Chism’s a doctor. And there’s other nurses that were there that day. Because where she fell, I mean, Jeff — he was like right there, so he was able to do CPR right away.”
Lili was initially transported to Wausau and then life-flighted to Children’s Hospital in Marshfield, where she remained in a medically-induced coma while doctors performed tests.
“She was there for three or four days, and then we went to Milwaukee for almost a month,” Laura said. “When she was down in Marshfield, she was kind of in a coma for a little while. They kept her in a coma, and then they took her out of it. And then they wanted her to get to cardiologists in Milwaukee Children’s Hospital.” Despite extensive testing, they couldn’t find a reason for Lili’s cardiac event. The cardiac arrest had no identifiable cause. Lili’s heart simply stopped beating. After extensive testing revealed no underlying heart condition, doctors implanted an internal defibrillator as a safeguard.
“They put the defibrillator here [indicating Lili’s abdomen], and then ran leads to her heart,” Laura said. “She was too little at the time to put it all up here in her chest like a pacemaker would normally go.”
The defibrillator hasn’t activated since the surgery, and Lili has had no further cardiac issues.
“It hasn’t gone off and everything has been perfect since then,” Laura said. “It was really just a giant fluke.”
Doctors worried about potential brain damage from the extended period when Lili went without a heartbeat, but Lili gradually recovered all her functions during the month-long hospital stay.
However, it was several months before doctors cleared Lili to return to riding. Even then, the medical team remained concerned about potential impact to the defibrillator unit. Lili now wears a protective vest while riding.
“They don’t want her to fall or have an impact to that defibrillator unit,” Laura said. “It’s more the defibrillator unit getting damaged than the heart itself.”

Back in the saddle again
Lili, who is now age 11 and a sixth-grader at Prairie River Middle School, began riding at age six and started barrel racing at eight. She first fell in love with horses after attending summer camp at Chism Trail Ranch.

Lili said she never considered giving up riding, and she wasn’t fearful of getting back up on a horse, but she was a little hesitant, Laura said.

A wish come true
At Lili’s last cardiology appointment, her doctor recommended her to Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“They said, we’d like to recommend her or put her name in for Make-A-Wish,” Laura said. She didn’t even know Lili’s situation qualified her for the program. Most people associate the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a terminal diagnosis.
“They want kids actually to live and enjoy their gifts forever,” Laura said. “It was more or less the incident that happened and then the defibrillator unit [surgery] is what kind of qualified her.”

Lili knew exactly what she wanted.
“Of course her only wish was, ‘I want a better barrel horse,’” Laura said.
On Oct. 18, 2025, Make-A-Wish Foundation presented Lili with Mikey, a seasoned barrel racing horse who had been owned by a neighbor and stabled nearby. Lili had been riding him but never imagined he would become hers. The surprise took place at Chism Trail Ranch, where Lili and Mikey carried the flag for the National Anthem before she was presented with the reins to her new horse in the arena. Make-A-Wish coordinators also gifted her a new saddle.
“He’s a good barrel racer. It’s kind of exactly what she needed,” Laura said. “It’s a good step-up horse, but not like crazy, crazy. He’s got a really funny personality.”
“Sometimes he likes to walk himself,” Lili said. “He grabs onto the lead rope and walks himself.”
The family now has three horses at their Gleason home, with Mikey joining their existing horses.

A life-changing experience
The experience in March 2024 has also shaped Lili’s future aspirations.
“At first, before this all happened, I actually wanted to be a horse chiropractor,” Lili said. “But after this, I feel like I connect more with kids.”
Lili now plans to pursue nursing, hoping to help other children who face medical emergencies like hers.

For the Boquist family, the journey from that terrifying March day to this joyful gift has been miraculous. The combination of quick-thinking medical professionals, persistent CPR, excellent hospital care, and now Make-A-Wish Foundation’s generosity has given Lili not just a second chance at life, but the tools to pursue her passion.
Standing near the stable, watching Lili prepare for an evening ride on Mikey, it’s clear that Lili’s survival and recovery truly are nothing short of a miracle.