Gold laces support Team Roan
After Roan Dahlen finishes his final round of chemotherapy in May, he wants to climb a mountain in Banff and tell cancer, after a threeyear fight, that he’s won.
To be a little more explicit, the 10-year-old atom Saskatoon Bobcat Rampage right winger really wants to say he’s kicked cancer’s “ass.” He demurs slightly when he says it, doing so after a gentle nudge from his mother, Coralee Abbott.
People in the hockey world and beyond have been showing their support for Roan by wearing gold laces in their skates, shoes and soccer cleats. Abbott has been keeping the Team Roan campaign page updated on Facebook, where the family has been raising awareness about childhood cancers.
“It was just an easy thing to do just to support people who do have it and just something simple to get a community together,” Roan says.
Admittedly, the positive messages he’s received do help him feel stronger. He’s thankful and appreciative of the well wishes he’s received.
Gold laces became the chosen symbol because it was an easy gesture to have spread, said his father Mike Dahlen. Because Roan is in his own skates for several months during a season, it was something easy for him to attach himself to, Abbott said.
“Everybody wears shoes every day — shoes, skates, whatever you have on your feet. We’ve had people just put gold on hockey sticks. It’s any representation, really,” Abbott said.
The gold laces gesture has made its way around the country, and even to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Head coach Mike Babcock filmed a message of support for Roan.
“He’s a great kid going through a tough time and it’s important the community rallies around him,” Babcock said in an emailed statement about why he felt it was important to support Roan.
When he saw his favourite team showing him support, it felt “awesome,” Roan said.
His mother revealed on the Team Roan Facebook page that he’d be featured in a taped segment of Rogers Hometown Hockey, which is in Saskatoon this weekend.
He wasn’t all for it at the beginning, not wanting to be singled as the boy with cancer, Abbott said. Roan’s parents, who own City Perks cafe in Saskatoon — approached him a few times, explaining that he would be sharing his story for other children who didn’t have the chance to do it.
“We hoped, both of us, I think, we just had a hope his teammates would want to join in, but we didn’t want to ask. We didn’t want to have to make a single person know or feel like they needed to. So, every single person who has laced up has done it strictly on their own,” Abbott said.
Through the campaign, she wants to ensure that her son is not just “cured” when the treatments ends but is healed emotionally. Abbott hopes that can happen through having conversations and sharing his story.
Team Roan launched shortly after he was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Three years ago during the hockey season, Roan got sick repeatedly with a cold that kept coming back. He was also plagued by fatigue and when he’d go out to skate, he wasn’t himself, his mother said. He was pale, bruised easily and the bruises took a long time to heal.
Their family doctor checked him for mononucleosis. Blood tests that were originally thought to confirm Roan had mono returned indicators of dangerously low blood counts. The doctor’s attention turned to leukemia.
Roan missed the last few months of his Grade 2 year, the first few months of his Grade 3 year and the summer in between, when he was all but isolated and feeling alone. Team Roan is his parents’ way to help him feel surrounded by love.
His treatments — when his younger brothers Knox, three, and Nash, two, hold his hand make sure he’s all right — come to an end May 10. After that, he’ll need monthly checkups.
“We can’t change what’s happened to us, but we can actually use it as the strength to build and give him the tools he needs to move forward,” Abbott said.
The first outward source of support was the hockey community. Roan’s teammates were on board from the start, and Mike, who is also a minor hockey coach, received support from other coaches. People raised funds, sent messages, dropped off food on the family’s doorstep.
“It’s been a really long road,” she said. “It’s been three years and it will be two months by the time he’s done and it’s all you can do ... Waking up every day and just pushing forward, it’s not easy. But yet, when you look at kids, at him lacing up his skates and being able to go out and play hockey and be normal and playing with his buddies — all he wanted to do was play with his buddies.”