Thomas Haydon Memorial Award Day

Photo Credit Sportswave

For the second consecutive year the Delta Islanders, Ladner Pioneers and the Delta Fighters hosted the Annual Thomas Haydon Memorial lacrosse game.

The game featured past Alumni players, current NLL players, Junior players including others who suited up to take part in events that brought the community together for a great cause.

In addition to players I managed to catch up with Ian Paton who dropped in to catch some action as well as show his support for the event.

For those who are unfamiliar – Ian albeit years back was the team trainer for the Vancouver Burrards who played out of the Kerrisdale Arena.

Before you ask, yes this is the same rink that Bill Wilms coached the Kerrisdale Couriers of the then Junior A Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League that operated from 1976-1979 then switched over to the BCHL becoming the Kerrisdale Blue Hawks operating from 1080-1982.

The interesting thing about the game was that the stands were full with several past players and fans from years back who continue to support lacrosse in Delta.

Say that you will, lacrosse in Delta has a strong following from various businesses that go back to having a connection with families which continues to grow with the registration each year.

Throughout the game we had several drop by and thank us for doing not only this game, but also for also covering the Junior lacrosse games played over the weekends at the Leisure Centre.

One just never knows who you will run into when out at various games and on this day we caught up with “Timbr” the Mascot for the Vancouver Warriors who was a hit with all of the youngsters in the building.

It’s interesting to note that when the Warriors were in search of a mascot they received over 2<300 submissions of various ideas and designs that the winner was a sasquatch design with 47.9% wanting this to go with the area.

This year, the Thomas Haydon Memorial Award is pleased to announce that all funds raised at this annual event will be donated to the family of Sarah Rodgers. 

In March 2023, at the age of 8, Sarah was diagnosed with a Central Nervous System Neuroblastoma (brain cancer). 

This was unexpected – Sarah had just had a few headaches prior to being diagnosed, and she underwent a 13-hour-plus surgery immediately to try and remove as much of the tumor as possible.

The neurosurgeons were able to remove a portion of the tumor, but due to its location, further treatment was needed and much of the tumor remained.

She then underwent 33 brain- and spine-radiation treatments at BC Cancer Centre in Vancouver. Following her radiation treatment, she had an additional brain surgery to remove fluid and prep her for chemotherapy.

In August 2023, Sarah began six months of very heavy inpatient chemotherapy to combat the remaining cancer. 

She battled hard during this time and became quite sick. Later in November, Sarah had a tonic colonic seizure (grand mal) while inpatient at BC Children’s Hospital. 

She managed to fight back and continue the remainder of her treatment which was completed in February 2024.

Based on MRI results, Sarah has not yet been cleared of cancer. She still has remaining tumor cells and the team at BCCH is not sure if the cells will grow or if she will need further treatment. Results will be known pending Sarah’s next couple of upcoming scans.

Sarah is in Grade 4 at Hawthorne Elementary, she is back at school, making friends, and attending weekly physio sessions to combat the neuropathy caused by the chemotherapy which has affected her ability to walk and run.

The Junior A Islanders team (1-3) hosts the Port Coquitlam Saints (5-2) at 7 p.m., also at the LLC. 

Jerseys are only being worn for the Junior A game, with a handful of duplicates being sold in an online jersey auction.