In the words of her mother, Lindsey, Ferris Backmeyer “is a free bird” today.
Ferris, a six-year-old from Kamloops, is in Toronto with her family, recovering from a kidney transplant that was done at the Hospital for Sick Children.
The joy this family — it includes Pat, Lindsey’s husband, and older sisters Tavia, 11, and Ksenia, 9 — now is feeling just bursts off the computer screen as one reads Lindsey’s latest Facebook post.
“Nineteen hospital sleeps was 100% worth it to be right where we are. On the other side,” Lindsey writes. “It’s pretty (bleeping) dreamy!! It was the most surreal hospital experience we’ve ever had. A really quick recovery from a post-op/pain perspective and then a kid who is the least sick that she’s ever been in hospital!”
Remember that Ferris hasn’t known much but kidney problems and dialysis — either peritoneal or hemo — for most all of her short life. What she is experiencing now is unbelievably awesome.
After undergoing the transplant, Ferris’s recovery was interrupted a tad by a bladder leak that required the installation of a catheter. But Lindsey reports that the leak “appears to have healed up well” and the catheter has been removed
Lindsey adds:
“The last week she has felt pretty good. No pain meds at all. Just waiting for the catheter and drain to come out. We managed to go out on passes in the afternoon/evening knowing that if the ultrasound looked solid (Sunday) we would get to leave (Monday)! It took allll day but we left at dinner time.
“We’ve been to this park daily and so far it’s filling her cup! That, and the Krispy Crèmes!!”
Now . . . if you’ve been following Ferris’s story for any length of time and are aware of what this family has been through, well, try reading this without things getting a bit misty.
“We’ve had so many sweet moments over the past couple of weeks,” Lindsey writes. “The big one is the eating. She’s no longer getting any tube feeds at all. Eating way too much food and meeting her fluid goals for the day. Watching her try new foods and demolish whole meals puts the biggest smile on my face. It’s unbelievable but also something I just knew was in her future.”
The really good news is that Ferris’s new kidney “continues to be soooo happy. There’s still some fine-tuning to be done with getting her weight down safely. She breathes really fast and her X-ray showed fluid on her lungs. I see it in her (impossible not to with a respiratory rate in the 60s) and it’s really hard to watch but her sats and heart rate are happy. It’s been that way for a couple weeks now and she’s pretty fine otherwise. But something I’d love to improve!”
For now, the Backmeyers will hang around Ronald McDonald House and wait for a transfer to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. If all goes well that move could take place in two weeks. After that, well, it would home to Kamloops for the first time in months.
And they really are going to enjoy the next couple of days because their medical team doesn’t want to see Ferris until Thursday.
“We haven’t had two whole days away from a hospital since the end of February!!” Lindsey notes. “That’s a huge win if you ask me!! It’s been 2.5 weeks since she’s had a dialysis treatment! There are wins falling from the sky lately!”
Lindsey also has maintained a sense of humour through all of this, and you can feel it as she writes: “Hell, I even finally got my first EI cheque . . . I’ve only been off work for four months already but yay for finally getting that sorted out!”
So . . . Lindsey, please tell us how you really feel . . . how you really, really feel.
“Life feels incredibly easy right now,” she writes. “Waiting for the shoe to drop but the longer we go with steadiness that fear settles a bit. This is not how we typically do things! Smoooooth! We literally just do meds and go for bloodwork and ultrasounds.”
You may not be aware that there isn’t a cure for kidney disease. Once you have it there isn’t any shaking it. Transplant recipients, while freed from having to do dialysis, are on a rather serious drug regimen.
Here’s Lindsey describing Ferris’s situation as of now:
“The meds are pretty intensive with several being cytotoxic and she’s on a schedule that has us giving meds five times throughout the day and a once daily injection. But it’s not a record amount of drugs for us by any means.
“It was definitely a record amount of money spent though!! Today’s bill was $2,000 for a three-week supply . . . which is trying to be sorted out for us. I’m fairly certain we will pay and then get reimbursed for a big chunk. It’ll be a non-issue once we get back to B.C.
“She’s on immunosuppressants, antibiotics, antiviral, antifungal, blood-thinner injections and a handful of others. I’m just not used to getting such a big bill for meds she’s already been on before and were covered.”
Yes, there are some considerable differences in what is/isn’t covered between Ontario and B.C.
Of course, to see Ferris and where she’s at now, well, everything this family has been through has been worth it.
“I’m like you realize we’ve done all these things for years. Right?” Lindsey concludes. “(It’s) all worth it to be where we are at right now. I can dream dreams that feel so within our reach I can taste it!! Some normalcy. Meds. That’s it!! Okay . . . so far I think we got this!!”
F Connor Bedard, the first overall selection in the NHL’s 2023 draft, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, which just happened to be his 18th birthday. . . . Bedard dominated talk in the first four months of 2023, thanks to his performance with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship and the last three months of what likely have been the last season of his WHL career with the Regina Pats. . . . Bedard, at 17, led the WHL in goals (71) and points (143), and was tied for the lead in assists (72), all in 57 games. . . . At the WJC, he put up 23 points, nine of them goals, in seven games. He led the tournament in points as he set a Canadian single-tournament record. He was fourth in tournament scoring for the 2023 event. . . . Bedard was named the CHL’s player of the year, the IIHF’s male player of the year and won the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence that is presented by NHL Central Scouting to the “draft prospect who best exemplifies commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism.” . . . Because he’s 18, Bedard will have to be returned to the Pats for the 2023-24 season, unless he makes the Blackhawks’ roster. . . . On which option are you betting? LOL!! . . . Bedard and the Blackhawks open the regular season on Oct. 10 in Pittsburgh against F Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.
Headline at The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) — Bettman vows to build a whole new city in Arizona if he has to.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
Geoff Walker is the new hockey operations general manager and head coach of the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder. . . . In each of the past two seasons, he guided a Superior International Junior Hockey League team to the Centennial Cup tournament, getting there with the Red Lake Miners in 2022 and Kam River Fighting Walleye last season. . . . In Drayton Valley, Walker replaces Corey Bricknell, who stepped up from associate coach to take over from Sean Brown on Jan. 10. The team had announced on June 5 that Bricknell would be returning for a second season, but that apparently isn’t going to happen. . . . Bricknell still shows up on the Thunder website, now as an Edmonton scout. . . .
Cole McCaig is returning to the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers as their assistant general manager and assistant coach. He has agreed to a one-year contract extension. McCaig has been with the Bombers since signing on as assistant coach for the 2018-19 season.
Lew Morrison, who played with the Flin Flon Bombers, died on Saturday. He was 75. . . . A native of Gainsborough, Sask., he grew up in Hartney, Man. . . . He was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers with the eighth overall pick of the NHL’s 1968 draft. He played his first three NHL seasons with the Flyers, then went on to the Atlanta Flames, who claimed him in an expansion draft, Washington Capitals, who also grabbed him in an expansion draft, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He finished with career totals of 39 goals and 52 assists. . . . Morrison retired after scoring six times and adding 14 assists in 65 games with the AHL’s Binghamton Dusters in 1977-78. . . . In 1966-67, he helped the Bombers to the MJHL championship with 25 goals and 40 assists in 44 games. The next season, Morrison had 26 goals and 23 assist with the Bombers in what was then the Western Canadian Junior Hockey League. . . . He was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
——
Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
——
Or, for more information, visit right here.
league’s annual general meeting in Calgary. It came five days after the WHL announced that the Winnipeg Ice had been sold and have moved to Wenatchee, Wash. That move came after the Ice’s owners reneged on a promise to build a new arena that would meet WHL standards. Instead, the Ice spent four seasons playing out of the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the campus of the U of Manitoba.
Firebirds, 3-2 in OT, in Game 7 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears became the first team to win on the road in this season’s final. . . . F Mike Vecchione’s fifth goal of the playoffs won the game at 16:19 of the first OT period. . . . Former Regina Pats D Ryker Evans had a goal and an assist as the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead with goals at 4:41 of the first period and 0:24 of the second. . . . The Bears tied it on second-period goals from F Connor McMichael, at 13:42, and F Hendrix Lapierre, at 17:09. . . . Evans put up two goals and eight assists in the final series. . . . The Firebirds, who were in their first AHL season, sold out each of their last five home playoff games. . . . The Firebirds are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken; the Bears are hooked up with the Washington Capitals. . . . Hershey, the AHL’s oldest franchise, won its 12th championship. . . . The Bears’ Game 7 lineup included former WHLers Lucas Johansen, Vince Iorio, Beck Malenstyn, Garrett Pilon, Riley Sutter, Aliaksei Protas and team captain Dylan McIlrath. Head coach Todd Nelson and assistant Patrick Wellar also are former WHLers.
That’s because the Winnipeg Ice WHL franchise is moving to Wenatchee where it will operate as the Wild. The BCHL franchise, meanwhile, won’t operate in the 2023-24 season.
with three straight goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Seattle won the series, 4-2. . . . The Thunderbirds have won four of the past six Western Conference titles. . . . A year ago, Seattle lost the WHL final in six games to the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Last night, F Dylan Sydor (4) gave the Blazers a 1-0 lead at 15:57 of the first period. . . . F Jared Davidson (10) tied it at 4:46, and D Sawyer Mynio gave Seattle its first lead with his first playoff goal at 5:33 of the third period. Mynio, who turned 18 on April 30, is a sophomore from Kamloops. This was his first goal in 35 playoff games. . . . F Kyle Crnkovic (4) upped Seattle’s lead to 3-1 at 10:00. . . . The Blazers got to within a goal when F Matthew Seminoff (10) scored at 18:17, on a PP and with G Dylan Ernst on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . F Reid Schaefer (6) ended it with the empty-netter at 19:21. . . . Kamloops was 1-for-3 on the PP; Seattle was 0-for-1. . . . The Thunderbirds held a 43-30 edge in shots, including 13-5 in the first period. . . . G Thomas Milic stopped 28 shots for Seattle. In these playoffs, he is 12-2, 1.85, .934. . . . Ernst stopped 39 shots and finished his playoff run at 10-4, 2.57, .913. . . . The Thunderbirds again scratched F Jordan Gustafson, while the Blazers remain without D Ryan Michael. . . . The Blazers are the 13th straight Memorial Cup host not to win its league championship. Their next game is scheduled for May 26 against the QMJHL champion, either the Quebec Remparts or the Halifax Mooseheads. 
the second period was eight minutes old en route to an 8-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . That allowed the Ice, who finished atop the WHL’s regular-season standings, to win the Eastern Conference semifinal, 4-2. They will open at home against the winner of tonight’s Game 7 between the Red Deer Rebels and host Saskatoon Blades. . . . Last night, the Ice scored two first-period goals 51 seconds apart and took it from there. F Zack Ostapchuk (7) scored at 10:49 and F Vladislav Shilo (3) counted at 11:40. . . . Winnipeg really took control on four straight second-period goals — from F Connor McClennon (7, 8), D Graham Sward (2) and F Conor Geekie (5). . . . Geekie (6) and F Evan Friesen (3) had the Ice’s other goals. . . . D Denton Mateychuk (3) and F Jagger Firkus (10) had PP goals for the Warriors. . . . Firkus is tied for the playoff lead in goals and points (21). . . . Shilo and Sward each had two assists and Geekie had one for three-point nights. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-for-2 on the PP; Winnipeg was 0-for-1. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 25 shots in earning the victory.
playoff scoring lead. . . . That all changed at some point on Friday when he was awarded a fourth assist from the Blazers’ 10-4 series-clinching victory over the Winterhawks in Portland.
Conference semifinal back to Red Deer with a 6-3 victory over the Rebels. . . . Red Deer still holds a 3-2 series lead, with Game 6 scheduled for Sunday afternoon. . . . A seventh game, if needed, would be played in Saskatoon on Tuesday night. . . . Last night, the Blades scored the game’s last three goals after the teams had traded goals and found themselves in a 3-3 second-period tie. . . . D Tanner Molendyk (2) gave the Blades a 1-0 lead at 5:39 of the first period, only to have F Kai Uchacz (7) tie it at 11:08. . . . The Blades went back out front as F Egor Sidorov (6) scored, on a PP, at 11:59. . . . And the Rebels tied it when Uchacz (8) scored again, at 16:58. . . . Sidorov (7) struck on another PP at 18:03 and the Blades led 3-2 at the intermission. . . . F Ollie Josephson (2) got Red Deer back into a tie at 1:28 of the second period. . . . But it was all Blades after that, with D Aiden De La Gorgendiere (2), who also had two assists, counting on a PP at 19:35, F Jayden Wiens (6) scoring at 5:41 of the third period, and Molendyk (3) adding another at 12:34. . . . The Blades got three assists from F Trevor Wong, who has 17 points, 13 of them helpers, in 12 games. . . . Saskatoon was 3-for-6 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-for-3. . . . G Ethan Chadwick earned the victory with 14 saves. . . . The Blades were without F Justin Lies who was hit with one of those TBD suspensions after taking a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on Red Deer F Kalan Lind in Game 3 on Wednesday. Lind, who left the ice on a stretcher that night, also was scratched. One would have to believe he is in concussion protocol.
goals as they beat the Regina Pats, 4-1, in Game 7 of their first round series. . . . The Blades will open the second round at home to the Red Deer Rebels on Friday night. . . . This game was goalless until Saskatoon D Spencer Shugrue scored on a redirection off a 3-on-2 break with 13.3 seconds left in the second period. The 19-year-old Vancouver native had one goal and six assists in 55 regular-season games. He was pointless in the first six games of the series. . . . The Blades went ahead 2-0 at 7:56 of the third period when F Jake Chiasson (2) scored. . . . F Stanislav Svozil (4) got the Pats to within a goal at 13:10. . . . The Blades put it away on goals from F Vaughn Watterodt (3), at 17:50, and F Trevor Wong (3), into an empty net, at 18:11. . . . Wong finished the series with 10 points, as did Saskatoon F Egor Sidorov, who had five goals. . . . Saskatoon got 25 stops from G Austin Elliott, while Regina’s Drew Sim blocked 36. . . . Saskatoon was 0-for-2 on the PP to finish 5-for-18. Regina’s PP didn’t get on the ice in Game 7 and finished 5-for-14. . . . If you were wondering who was the WHL Supervisor for this game, it was Kevin Muench, the league’s veteran senior director of officiating. . . . The announced attendance at Monday’s game was 14,768. The four playoff games in Saskatoon drew 47,729 fans. The seven-game series finished with a total attendance of 67,226. . . . The Pats’ last six trips to Saskatoon drew 77,265 fans to SaskTel Centre.
third period and the Regina Pats went on to beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades, 5-3, to tie their series, 3-3. . . . Game 7 is scheduled to be played in Saskatoon on Monday night. . . . F Trevor Wong’s second straight goal, at 1:04 of the third, had gotten the Blades into the 3-3 tie. . . . Bedard’s 11th goal of the series came just 55 seconds later. It came as the Pats caught the Blades on a shaky line change. D Stanislav Svozil made a big-league pass from the Regina blue line to Bedard at the Saskatoon line, and he went in to score. . . . Svozil finished with three assists; he’s got three goal and nine assists in the six games. . . . Bedard also had three assists. . . . There was controversy at 11:24 of the third period as F Zackary Shantz appeared to score his second goal of the series. However, he was in the blue paint and the puck may have gone in off a skate. After a lengthy video review, the goal was disallowed. But after referee Mark Pearce spoke with Regina general manager/head coach John Paddock, there was a second lengthy review after which the goal was allowed to stand. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an explanation offered by the WHL. Yes, the WHL really needs to find a way to post explanations on social media. You know, just to keep fans informed. . . . Saskatoon F Jayden Wiens (4) opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first period. . . . Regina pulled even on a goal from F Alexander Suzdalev
second round with a 3-2 OT victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Portland will open the next round with games against the Blazers in Kamloops on Friday and Saturday. . . . In four regular-season meetings, Portland was 3-1-0, while Kamloops was 1-1-2. . . . Last night, F Robbie Fromm-Delorme (2) won it, on a PP, at 9:45 of OT. . . . F Gabe Klassen (2) had given Portland a 1-0 lead at 16:39 of the first period. . . . Everett went ahead with two late second-period PP goals, from F Austin Roest (4), at 16:51, and F Jackson Berezowski (4), at 18:36. . . . The Winterhawks tied it when F James Stefan (4) scored, on a PP, at 8:29 of the third. . . . Each team was 2-for-5 on the PP. . . . G Jan Špunar earned the victory with 19 saves, 21 fewer than Everett’s Tyler Palmer. . . . Everett was dogged by injuries in this series; it had seven injured players on the sidelines.
Saskatoon Blades to a 4-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . This was the first time in the series that the home team emerged triumphant. . . . The Blades, who lost the first two games of this series at home, now hold a 3-2 edge with Game 6 in Regina tonight. If they need a Game 7, it’ll be played Monday in Saskatoon. . . . Last night, the Blades led 2-0 before the game was six minutes old and the Pats spent the rest of the game chasing. . . . F Connor Bedard (10) scored twice for Regina, his first goal getting the Pats to within one, at 2-1, at 11:24 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon had a goal disallowed at 6:25 of the second period due to incidental contact with Regina G Drew Sim. . . . F Conner Roulette (1) restored Saskatoon’s two-goal edge, scoring on a delayed penalty situation, at 15:52. . . . That allowed the Blades to head into the second intermission with a lead for the first time in the series. They overcame 3-1 third-period deficits to win Games 3 and 4. . . . Bedard got that one back, also on a delayed penalty, at 3:09 of the third. . . . Sidorov’s fifth goal of the series, at 10:46, came off a 3-on-1 break and provided some insurance. . . . Each team was 1-for-2 on the PP. In the five games, Saskatoon is 5-for-15; the Pats are 4-for-11. . . . Attendance was announced at 12,083, the largest crowd in this season’s WHL playoffs to date. . . .
three goals, the last one coming in OT, to beat the Calgary Hitmen, 6-5, and win the series, 4-1. . . . F Ben King (3) ended it at 4:56 of OT. . . . D Mats Lindgren (2) had given the Rebels a 3-2 lead with PP goals at 19:23 of the first period and 7:32 of the second. . . . Calgary then took a 5-3 on goals from F Maxim Muranov, at 12:19 of the second, F Oliver Tulk (1), on a PP, at 2:46 of the third, and Muranov (2), shorthanded, at 9:32. . . . D Matteo Fabrizi (2) pulled Red Deer to within a goal at 15:32, and D Christoffer Sedoff (2) tied it at 17:18. . . . Lindgren added two assists — including the primary on the winner — to his two goals and finished the series with eight points. . . . Red Deer had a 44-24 edge in shots, including 4-0 in OT. . . . The Rebels were 3-for-6 on the PP; the Hitmen were 2-for-5.
period was five minutes old and went on to a 5-0 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The series, which Portland leads, 3-1, is to resume tonight in Portland. . . . If Portland wins this series, the Winterhawks will open the second round in Kamloops on Friday. . . . G Tyler Palmer stopped 27 shots for his first WHL playoff shutout. In the four games, he is 1-3, 3.32, .891. . . . F Caden Zaplitny (1) got Everett started at 2:49 of the first period, and F Beau Courtney (1) upped it to 2-0 at 4:14. . . . F Jackson Berezowski and F Austin Roest each scored his third goal of the series. . . . The Silvertips were never headed after that and enjoyed a 36-27 edge in shots. . . .
tie with three third-period goals as they beat the Tri-City Americans, 6-2, in Kennewick, Wash. . . . The Cougars lead the series, 3-2. And now the teams are on the road to Prince George where Game 6 will be played on Sunday, with Game 7, if needed, there on Tuesday. . . . F Reese Belton (1) got the Americans into a 2-2 tie at 16:22 of the second period. . . . F Caden Brown (3), who also had two assists, gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead at 8:01 of the third period, with Cole Dubinsky (2) adding insurance at 14:39, and F Zac Funk (3) getting his second of the game, an empty-netter, at 17:42. . . . D Bauer Dumanski (2) had two goals for the Cougars. . . . 
TAKING NOTE 