Six-year-old fights brain tumour
Malcolm Austin a special guest at Edmonton Oilers hockey game; dance group raising money for family
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 29, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It's not every day a six-year-old boy from Yellowknife gets to hang out with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Edmonton Oilers gave six-year-old Malcolm Austin, shown here with his father, Andrew Austin, a shout out on the Jumbotron during an Oilers game Tuesday night. Malcolm is currently in Edmonton undergoing radiation treatment for a recently - photo courtesy of Andrew Austin |
But Malcolm Austin, who is in Edmonton for radiation treatment on a recently discovered brain tumour, was invited to do just that on Tuesday.
"When we got in there, I could just tell by the smiles on their faces that they were having a good time," said Mike Soloy, who organized the meet-up.
On Oct. 1, his sixth birthday, Malcolm Austin was diagnosed with a brain tumour later identified in Edmonton as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). DIPG is a rare, malignant and aggressive type of cancer, according to Malcolm's mother, Kim Austin. He began radiation the day after Thanksgiving and is currently in the middle of a six-week treatment at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.
Malcolm has an identical twin brother named Lachlan.
To distract themselves from his ongoing treatment, family friends bought Malcolm and his father, Andrew Austin, tickets to the Tuesday night Oilers game. Then Soloy, who lives in Yellowknife but has connections to the Oilers organization, arranged for them to attend the team's morning practice. Taylor Hall, left winger and alternate captain, signed their jerseys and the Oilers official Twitter account, which has 326,000 followers, gave them a shout out.
"Keep fighting, Malcolm," the tweet said.
"All of Oil Country is in your corner!"
The Oilers went on to earn a shut-out win against the Montreal Canadiens that night.
"It's good karma," laughed Soloy.
"Oilers players are fantastic that way. Taylor Hall could have just walked by (Malcolm) pretending to be on his cellphone, but the players don't roll that way."
In an e-mail statement, Hall took a moment to reflect on meeting Malcolm.
"It was great meeting (him) before the game against Montreal," he said.
"He is truly inspiring and I wish him and his family the best as he continues to fight cancer."
Andrew Austin said the experience was a "thrill of a lifetime" and said the day was made even more special by the fact that Malcolm's grandparents also happened to be in the city and could come along.
Back in Yellowknife, Kim Austin says it's a gift that that 30 children have signed up to perform in a fundraiser dance recital her son.
To help the family cope with the financial stress of medical travel, Lina Ball, owner of Bella Dance Academy, is organizing the fundraiser at Range Lake North School.
"We were amazed when we heard what Lina and the dancers were doing," said Kim.
"Our daughter herself has performed in Bella fundraisers before, and we never thought we would be in the place where we would be the recipients of such kindness."
Kim's daughter, Maggie, has danced with the academy for six years.
Ball says the fundraiser idea stems from a few years ago when one of her students, Jonas Konge, underwent heart surgery. She has organized fundraisers for a few others since then.
"It's really a community effort," she said.
"It's something we can quickly do that is uplifting and let's kids express their feelings through movement."
The dancers will choreograph their own performances set to music of their choice as well as record a short video message for Malcolm.
"It's usually very heartfelt performances. Kids take a long time choosing their music and putting together their pieces," said Ball.
"They're not professional, but they look fabulous."
Volunteers will sell homemade baked goods at Range Lake North before the performance to raise money for the family as well.
The event is scheduled for Nov. 2 at 3 p.m. at the school. Admission will be by donation and all proceeds will go to the Austin family.
Ball says more than 7,000 people have seen her Facebook post about the event, which she put up on Oct. 17.
"I'm really excited," she said.
"Yellowknife is a supportive community and I'm thankful for the support ... it's so expensive to travel back and forth (between Edmonton and Yellowknife) and this will help them make their decisions based on their needs."
Range Lake North School has also set up a fundraiser account. E-mail donations can be sent to austinfamilyfund@gmail.com.
