At 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 30th, the puck will drop on a new fundraising initiative to improve cancer care in the north.
The Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, along with TC Energy, announced the launch of Pucks for a Purpose: 24 Hours of Remembrance and Hope, a 24-hour hockey game to raise funds for specialized cancer care equipment.
Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation CEO Aimee Cassie said the funds raised from the event will support the hepatobiliary clinic.
“Which is basically a diagnostic ultrasound that is used in pancreatic, liver, different forms of cancer during surgery to know exactly where they need to remove tumor, etc. Basically, it’s eyes on the patient,” she explained. “Right now, we’re sending all of those patients out of northern B.C. down to Vancouver for this diagnostic work. That’s travel time on families, that’s time away from work, that’s money out of people’s pockets, and then you do it in the middle of winter.”
Event Founder Allen Bristowe has been thinking about the event for a while, after his wife lost her battle with cancer nearly three years ago.
“It was one of the things I told her, that one day I want to be able to give back and figure out how we can help,” Bristowe said. “Now that there’s a machine that might have been able to help her, or help other people that are going through the same thing that we went through three years ago. It’s amazing.”
Dr. Mitchell Webb, a local surgeon, said the new equipment is going to be tremendous for the north.
“Currently, patients have to travel hundreds of kilometres outside of town, for usually sometimes several weeks to get state of the art care,” he said. “Particularly, it’s things like ultrasounds or intraoperative equipment, like retractors or ablation probes, because we have that coming our way in Prince George, those patients can stay here now, recover in hospital and be with their families while they go through their treatments.”
Participants can register for a minimum of one game, but can also play more if desired.
“You register, and then we put you on a team, if people want to play with their friends, they can ask for that, we’ll try to accommodate the best we can, not obviously, guaranteed,” Bristowe said.
Players will be put onto one of two teams, Team Hope and Team Courage, both of which will be sponsored by Lakewood Dental.
This will also be the first 24-hour hockey game in Prince George.
“It’s been done in other places, I think the other games that I’ve heard of across Canada are the same players,” Bristowe said. “It’s been done in Alberta and in eastern Canada where they’ve done games like this, but usually it’s two teams. For us, we want as many people as possible.”
Bristowe added basic requirements to register are to know how to play hockey and to have the full equipment.
It was kind of a full-circle moment for Webb and Bristowe at the announcement in the Kin Lounge, as Webb provided care for Bristowe’s wife during her cancer battle.
“Sad stories can motivate change, and if we choose to put our best foot forward, and use that as a way to motivate treating other people,” Webb said.
Registration is open, with more information available on the Spirit of the North website here.
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