In June 2023, parents Amanda and Jeff were given the completely unexpected news that their healthy, active nine-year-old boy, Easton, had a brain tumour that required immediate surgery.

Still reeling, just two days later, they walked him into his first 10-hour brain surgery at the Alberta Children’s Hospital to remove the mass, followed one week later by another eight-hour surgery to ensure all margins were clear. The biopsy had revealed it was indeed a cancerous tumour known as medulloblastoma.

“It’s your worst nightmare,” says Amanda “Hearing your child has brain cancer was so devastating, and then it was so terrifying to have Easton go through all of that so abruptly.”

Easton had to miss school and a season playing hockey with his Northwest Warriors team while he went through radiation in Florida and rounds of chemotherapy at the hospital. Understandably, Easton became quite anxious at the hospital, with blood draws, scans, IVs and countless visits from doctors and specialists. However, one of those trips to the hospital was made much brighter when he got to meet his hockey heroes from the Calgary Flames and Calgary Hitmen players during their annual holiday visit with patients.

Today, hockey continues to be a bright spot in Easton’s journey.

While his treatment continues for a few small cancerous spots found through his latest MRI, Easton is doing well and remarkably, back at school and back on the ice playing the sport he loves.

“After all he’s been through, hockey makes him smile, being a part of a team makes him feel like he did before all this started and so hockey is a light for us in all this darkness,” says Amanda.

Watching her son play makes her feel so proud, and so grateful for the specialized care her son continues to receive at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. And thanks to a program called Hospital at Home made possible by generous donors, Easton can receive some of his chemotherapy treatments in the comfort of his own home, with his dogs and favourite games by his side. Having his nurses come to him at his house has alleviated quite a bit of his stress and minimized disruptions to family routines, and most importantly, helps Easton feel relaxed and like a kid at home, rather than a patient in hospital.

It’s why Easton and his family are so grateful to the Hockey Kids Helping Kids program in support of the Alberta Children’s Hospital so more kids like him ca n receive the best care and treatments possible, when and where they need it.

“I think it’s great that hockey teams are going to try and raise money for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation because the Hospital at Home program helps me so much,” says Easton. “The hospital is very noisy. I like when the nurses come to my house instead. Getting chemo with my dogs beside me is much better.”

Easton feels incredibly grateful to be back on the ice, and back with his team again. “I really missed hockey and my team last year,” he says. “Now I can look forward to playing hockey. It is a nice distraction.”

Teamwork off the ice, in support of kids like Easton, is what the Hockey Kids Helping Kids program is all about.

The top three fundraising teams will win exciting prize packages, including the opportunity to watch the Calgary Flames in action during a private practice at the Dome January 3.