A group of men’s league hockey teams took to the ice for 12 straight hours in Sherwood Park on Saturday to support the Neurosurgery Kids Fund (NKF).
The annual DirtyBirds Charity Hockey Tournament has raised over $300,000 in just four years thanks, in part, to the DirtyBirds men’s hockey team and the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Soula Milonas’ son, Jacob, spent about 80 per cent of his young life at the Stollery and underwent nearly 100 heart, stomach and brain surgeries.
“He loved hockey. When he was stuck in the bed, that’s what he watched – hockey,” said Milonas.
While the 14-year-old passed away nearly a year ago, his last few summers were spent at Camp Everest – a NKF camp tailored to children affected by neurosurgery and a place where campers can exert their independence.
“They give kids a chance to live like a regular kid and the impact emotionally that has on people you can’t measure,” said Tyler Steele, Jacob’s uncle. “He had a way of making everyone else’s life better. He had a way of touching people.”
During the tournament players wear a jersey dedicated to kids like Jacob.
“When I got to watch the first game and they came out on the ice […] I saw Jacob’s name on the back of one of the jerseys, skating around. It’s something that he never got to do for me, that was beautiful to see. Just his name skating around […] he always wanted to do that,” Milonas explained.
This year, the two-day event raised more than $60,000.
With files from CTV’s Jeremy Thompson
