Sep 16, 2018 | stephensond | 510 views
Our 18th man Abu has started his treatment!!!!
Thanks to the players of the Minor Bantam Shamrocks passion and dedication to this project, Abu's journey toward a normal childhood began on Sept 6 2018. The treatment plan for him, he will start with a series of castings to stretch his feet ligaments over the course of about 6 weeks, so 1 new cast per week for six weeks, not unlike having braces tightened every few weeks or so. Glen termed it "not a comfortable experience the first couple hours" after the casting has been applied. After 6 weeks a surgery will occur to realign feet and ankle bones.
This is all happening for Abu because of the selfless hard work our team put in over the summer. Cutting grass, raking grass, weeding all lead their fundraising efforts. The goal was to raise $70 per player for a total of $1190.....but this is Hespeler, and we are Shamrocks so the boys raised a total of $1720.25!!!! Glenn from the charity was thoroughly impressed and offered 2 options with the extra $520 and asked the boys to tell him what to do.....Option 1. Spend all the money on Abu and his 24 siblings with things like 50kg bags of maze to feed them, or a type of mattress to get them sleeping off of the ground. Option 2. They could fix an infant with club foot which is much easier to fix at that age.
Being a coach, it has been my experience that there is always a moment in the season where the boys become more than just a bunch of boys playing hockey. They become a team and I watched it happen right in front of me. I made the team do a team vote for the options, as it was theirs to decide...it took about 1 minute for them to decide unanimously that they would like to raise an addition $20-$25 each so they can do both options! In a world that I'm not convinced a kid would get off a game of Fortnite to pour water on me if i was on fire, i was blown away. I could not be more proud to be their coach, they are a special group of young men.
I have attached a picture of Abu receiving his first treatment! After hearing from Glenn about what Abu's life has been like, how painful it has been, the second I saw this picture and the smile on his face, he immediately became or Team Captain for the 2018-2019 season. He will be getting is jersey sometime in mid November.
Coach