Heidi Russo is an American ICU nurse and co-founder of advocacy groups called “Linked Thru Love” and the Three Stands Organization. She is, however, better known as the biological mother of American football player Colin Kaepernick.
Heidi shot into the media spotlight while trying to reunite with her son Colin, following his rise to fame as a football quarterback. However, all her efforts to reunite with him proved futile. Colin is also an American civil rights activist, who has taken over the news time and again to fight for what he strongly believes in. He is famous for kneeling while the national anthem is being sung in protest of police brutality and racism. As a football player, he has played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League.
Profile Summary of Heidi Russo
- Full Name: Heidi Allen Russo
- Date of Birth: 1969
- Age: 53 years (as of 2022)
- Place of Birth: United States of America
- Ethnicity: Caucasian
- Nationality: American
- Education: University of Wisconsin
- Profession: Registered Nurse and Philanthropist
- Height: 6 feet 2 inches tall
- Marital Status: Married
- Heidi Russo’s Husband: Heath Russo
- Children: Alex, Ethan, and Michael
- Twitter: heidirn1
- Instagram: heidirn1
Who is Heidi Russo?
Heidi Russo was born in 1969 in the United States of America. She was birthed from the union of Phyllis and James Zabransky. She came from an athletic family and was involved in sports activities while growing up. Sadly, the union of her parents did not last long as they separated when she was young.
Being a child from a broken home, she encountered difficulty trying to maintain a relationship with her father. This led her outside the four walls of her home to seek what she lacked, and so a young Heidi in desperate need of the love of her two parents ventured into the dangerous world outside.
Talking about her educational background, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh from 1990 to 1996 and obtained her B.Sc. degree in Nursing.
Heidi Russo Got Pregnant at the Age of 18 years
With no manual on the do’s and don’ts of the outside world, Heidi Russo ended up falling in love with an African-American man who was 10 years older. Though the man had proposed to her, the relationship was yet to be officiated before he abandoned her, shortly after discovering that she was pregnant with his child.
At the age of 19, she gave birth to Colin Kaepernick on November 3, 1987, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Traumatized by the sudden turn of events, Heidi decided to put up the newborn for adoption after 6 weeks of raising him. Baby Colin was adopted by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a nurse and office worker, who had four children but lost two to a heart defect.
After the adoption process, Colin took up their last name and officially became Colin Kaepernick. Even after giving up the custody of her son, Heidi kept in touch with Rick and Teresa, who were nice enough to send Heidi pictures of Colin until he attained the age of 7 years after which they lost contact.
Heidi Russo started hogging the limelight when she tried to reach out to Colin Kaepernick following his rise to fame as a football quarterback. Unfortunately, all her efforts to reconnect with the NFL player have been disregarded as he makes known that he does not want to reunite with her. Heidi, however, has no intention of giving up on the NFL player just yet, she uses any means possible, especially through her Twitter account. She sends him messages and actively voices her support or criticism of her son’s conduct.
She Criticized Colin Kaepernick’s Protest of Racism
Heidi Russo has been vocal about being Colin’s birth mother. She has sent him multiple correspondences, all of which have been ignored by the athlete. In an interview, he explained the reason behind his actions towards his birth mother. He said: “My family is just, my family. That’s it.”
Just like her son, Heidi is not one to look the other way when she feels something is wrong. In 2016, she became a social media sensation when she openly criticized Colin’s one knee movement protest against racism and police brutality during the playing of the national anthem.
According to her tweets, Colin could have used other ways to stage a protest rather than disrespecting the national anthem. This action of hers was met with backlash from Colin’s fans and the Black rights movement. Meanwhile, Teresa and Rick Kaepernick are in support of their son’s action. They released a statement to this effect, stating that they are proud of his strength and courage.
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Heidi Russo Has Three Other
Heidi is currently married to Heath Russo with whom she has three children, Michael, Ethan, and Alex. The couple resides in Denver, Colorado with their three children. She frequently shares pictures of her children on her social media page. From her post and tweets, her other sons are also interested in the sport.
Michael, who is the oldest of the three, is on the baseball team of The Bandits. Heidi actively supports her son through her social media pages.
Heidi Russo is a Registered Nurse at SCL Health
Heidi is a registered nurse and is quite successful in her career path. She has worked for more than 15 years in a Cardiovascular Lab at SCL Health in Lafayette, Colorado. In the past, she has also worked as a hospital supervisor.
Apart from serving patients, she is also a philanthropist. She collaborated with Jami Marcantonio to set up an advocacy group called ‘Linked Thru Love.’ This group focuses on awareness about the concept of adoption and ending stereotypes associated with birthmothers. The group also aims at making people understand the concept of adoption. To support biological mothers, she also launched a non-profit organization called ‘Three Strands’. Three strands’ main objective is to help out birthmothers from the stigmatization that they face regularly.
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