Pirate Ship a Place for Central Kitsap Boy to Escape Health Problems
It took 7-year-old Payton Frandsen close to a year to come up with his wish.
After the Make-A-Wish Foundation selected him as a recipient of a dream fulfilled, his parents told him he could have anything he wanted.
Payton didn’t grasp that “anything†really meant anything.
He asked for a WALL-E puzzle.
“It was actually really cute,†his mom, Tiffani Frandsen, said.
The Frandsens didn’t want to make the decision for their son.
“But we wanted him to be able to enjoy (the wish) for years to come,†Frandsen said.
Typical of children his age, Payton’s attention span for toys can range from a few days to a few months. But it was his infatuation with a Peter Pan and Captain Hook toy that led to his obsession with pirates.
That infatuation sealed the deal: his wish was to have a pirate ship playhouse in the backyard of the family’s Central Kitsap home.
The playhouse  named Payton’s Plunder  has a crow’s nest, captain’s helm, rigging and sail, dock, and evacuation slide that lands safely in a sandbox. The rigging is real  it came off the historic Adventuress sailboat  and a sail maker from Port Townsend is making a square sail to be hoisted above the ship.
Once his brothers  Porter, 2, and Paxton, 6 months  get a little older, they’ll make the perfect crew.
“He can’t play any contact sports, and he tires easily,†Frandsen said. “This is going to create an adventure for him in his own backyard.â€Â
Payton has several health complications. He was born with a congenital heart defect in addition to Shone’s Complex, which also affects the heart. He has abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of his lungs, and only one kidney that functions at about 50 percent of its ability.
He also has a permanent feeding tube and has spent most of his life in and out of hospitals for various surgeries, including three open-heart surgeries.
Every six months Payton and his family visit Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital so doctors can inspect a donor valve and mechanical valve placed in his heart. As his heart grows, the valves will need to be replaced, Frandsen said.
Now that Payton has a pirate ship playhouse to return to, Frandsen expects her son will be even more excited to return home from the visits to California.
Construction began on the structure over the weekend and crews were still working Tuesday to make the playhouse worthy of its tiny captain. The Make-A-Wish Foundation worked with the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County to get the project done. The association’s remodel council took over the project.
