It\u2019s no secret that Minnesota is \u2018the state of hockey.\u2019<\/p>\n
This weekend, the Rogers youth hockey community is rallying around three families that have been facing a rare form of cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean it\u2019s like anything else for kids,\u201d declares Kari Como, a mother of three. \u201cIf there\u2019s something that you don\u2019t think is right, keep questioning it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Rogers Activity Center, about 300 players are hitting the ice for ten games through Monday night \u2014 a fundraiser to help that trio of families, and much more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a really nice idea,\u201d exclaims Ashly Bliven, a Rogers High School Sophomore. \u201cIt\u2019s a good idea that Rogers Hockey is helping everyone, those kids in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nComo is organizing the event.<\/p>\n
She says in 2020, her husband Josh died from Sarcoma, a rare, aggressive cancer that attacks the bones and soft tissue.<\/p>\n Only two years before, he had found a lump in his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a little emotional. I probably wouldn\u2019t be doing this if it wasn\u2019t for him,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThey ended up amputating half his clavicle, his shoulder, an entire arm, trying to stop it. By the time he had passed, it had spread everywhere, got into his brain. Found it in his brain in September 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n This weekend, Como is advocating for two boys fighting cancer battles of their own.<\/p>\n But she says there\u2019s good news.<\/p>\n Both 10-year old Riley Kane and 11-year old Carter Haw, also diagnosed with Sarcoma, are recovering after months of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n \u201cI see him all the time at the ice rink, he goes to the boy\u2019s games,\u201d notes Emma Fee, a classmate of Carter\u2019s, who says she\u2019s happy about his improving health. \u201cHe fought cancer for a while and he\u2019s done with it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The hope for the fundraiser is to raise about $10,000.<\/p>\n The money will go to \u2018Rein in Sarcoma\u2019 \u2014 a Fridley non-profit that donates funds for Sarcoma research.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these families have kind of banded together to make sure we can raise education awareness for families, patients, and physicians,\u201d says Janelle Calhoun, the non-profit\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n Calhoun says since 2001, the group has funded over $2 million in research \u2014 including 82 studies at facilities like the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic and Children\u2019s Minnesota.<\/p>\n She notes that Sarcoma accounts for about 1% of cancers diagnosed in adults, and about 15% in children.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to understand what\u2019s feeding these tumors, what\u2019s growing them, why are they metastasizing and moving,\u201d Calhoun says.<\/p>\n Como says while she\u2019s happy to help, she also hopes to raise awareness about Sarcoma and help families to become more aware of their own health issues.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe just if you have an instinct that something\u2019s not right, you should probably talk to the doctors,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd keep being your own advocate, your kids\u2019 advocate, your spouse\u2019s advocate to get it checked out.\u201d<\/p>\n You can find out more about Rein In Sarcoma here.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kstp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/HOCKEY-FUNDRAISER-9_PKG_00.00.49.32-1024x576.jpg\")
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