Charity event Saturday blurs line between personal, work
It’s been a while since you heard from me, because most of the time I try to draw a distinct line between my personal and professional lives.
This weekend, that line gets blurred a little. And there’s no way I could do a regular story about it, because when something has your dead child’s name on it, you tend to be a little biased.
So you get a column — completely one-sided, highly opinionated, very much first-person.
With that out of the way, you should come to Athletic Park tonight (7:05 p.m.) to watch the Medicine Hat Mavericks play.
It’s Superhero Night — sponsored by ProComm Solutions, benefitting the Alberta Children’s Hospital via the Extra Life charity team known as #Dominicstrong.
Dominic, of course, is my son. Diagnosed with leukemia in 2013 a month before his first birthday. Died during his wish trip to Disneyworld a month before his third birthday. Never spoke but gave more thumbs-ups and blown kisses than you’ll ever know.
We spent most of those two years at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, and met many kids from Medicine Hat who stayed there as well. I’d be willing to bet that if you don’t know someone who’s used the facility, you know someone who does. Even though it’s a three-hour (45 minutes in an airplane) ride west, we are lucky to have a dedicated place to take our sick and injured kids when they need it.
Pretty much right away, we wanted to help give back. I got involved in Extra Life, a gaming charity in which the main event every year is a 24- or 25-hour gaming marathon. Team #Dominicstrong has raised more than $120,000 in five years through Extra Life, every penny of which goes to the hospital directly from the Children’s Miracle Network. If you’re interested, just go to extra-life.org and sign up (you can join #Dominicstrong when you register).
Anyways, playing video and board games hasn’t been the end of our charity efforts. The year Dom passed away there was an online auction. So now that’s an annual event (businesses, email donations@dominicstrong.com if you want to help out). A friend who runs Hooplas Family Entertainment Centre has run a special day and will again Sept. 10.
And this year, Mavericks owner Greg Morrison approached me with something new.
Other sports teams in North America have run superhero nights before. Special jerseys, promotions, whatever it takes to get more fans in the seats. But none that I can find have as aptly used Spider-man’s motivation: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Morrison could easily do a superhero night and take the profits. But he also wants to give back to the community. And so the jerseys the players will wear Saturday have a thumbs-up logo and #Dominicstrong on one shoulder, and the Extra Life logo on the other.
The players will wear them for the first five innings, then they’ll be sold for $100 (plus GST) with proceeds going through our Extra Life team to the hospital. If you come, consider wearing your own superhero outfit if you have one. My fourmonth old daughter is going as Wonder Woman.
I’ll be there, and permit me to cheer for once (though not in the press box; never cheer in the press box). I want it to be a great night, I want people to remember my son and I want to continue giving back. Thanks for your time. Sean Rooney is the sports editor of the Medicine Hat News. He can be reached via email at srooney@medicinehatnews.com.