Tag: Ferris Backmeyer

Ferris’s journey continues . . . ‘We really couldn’t have asked for a better day’ . . . ‘I’m so proud of her’

How did Ferris Backmeyer handle Friday after having undergone a kidney transplant overnight Thursday?

Ferris, 6, asked to call her friend Amilia.

As Ferris’s mother, Lindsey, wrote: “We really couldn’t have asked for a better day!!”

The Backmeyers — Lindsey and Pat, with daughters Ferris, Ksenia and Tavis — are from Kamloops. They have been in Toronto for a couple of weeks now, first preparing for Ferris to undergo a kidney transplant at the Hospital for Sick Children and now going through the recovery phase.

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Ferris Backmeyer, 6, spent Friday resting up after having undergone a kidney transplant in Toronto. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

Ferris has had kidney issues for almost all of her young life, and Lindsey has done a wonderful job of documenting it all on Facebook.

Doing this no doubt is therapy of sorts for Lindsey, but it also is a way to keep in touch with family and friends via one posting, thus cutting out the need for a thousand different messages.

We can only imagine how many hours Lindsey has spent sitting in hospitals or Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver over the past six years, potential scenarios flipping through her mind with uncontrolled randomness.

When she posted in the wee hours of Saturday, it was impossible not to feel the excitement that was coursing through her system.

“I had considered what it might look like for things to have gone smoothly,” she allowed, “but, even then, it didn’t look like (Friday) . . . it was smoooooth!!!”

How smooth was it?

“Urine output amazing all day long. She weaned off really high doses of (norepinephrine) once she woke up! Maintained her (blood pressure) throughout the day, including when she napped this evening! Ultrasound looked great. She hardly skipped a beat.”

Ferris talked with her mother “about the things we played with (Thursday).”

And, yes, she asked “to phone her friend Amilia.”

But wait . . . there’s more!

“She was awake for several hours,” Lindsey continued. “Sat up a bunch of times. Played a bit. Ate some food. Was mostly kept comfortable. If she didn’t have her history she would have definitely been sent out of ICU (Friday) evening! Like holy heck girl!! Way to goooooo!! I’m so proud of her.”

However, you can’t have been on this ride with Ferris for these past years and FerrisLogonot come to expect the worst. You know how it goes . . . hope for the best and . . . It’s only human nature that the Backmeyers have experienced that time and time again.

At one point, Lindsey wrote: “I hate living in this constant fear of all the worst things.”

So why should things be any different this time?

“I’ve found myself holding my breath a lot of the day. Waiting for her to start to crash. But she didn’t,” Lindsey wrote. “Beyond my wildest expectations, we have gotten to the other side. I am constantly checking myself as to not get too excited. Knowing there are going to be some really hard days ahead.”

Lindsey, who has worked as a respiratory therapist at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, knows that her youngest daughter “definitely isn’t out of the woods in terms of clotting and/or bleeding for that matter.”

But there have been so many positive signs since surgery that “I’m gonna choose to celebrate today as a huge (bleeping) win!! Im gonna allow myself to dream a little that things could actually just be amazing. We are coming from such a bumpy world that we were ready for something new if even if it came with a different kind of hard.”

OK. So what’s next?

Lindsey is anxiously awaiting Ferris’s being moved out of ICU and onto a ward, which will mean mother will get to sleep next to daughter.

“I’m exhausted,” Lindsey admitted. “My one-hour attempt at a nap ended up being four solid hours. Ferris napped late in the day so has just fallen asleep. I can’t sleep at her bedside so I’m off to find a ‘parent recliner’ with hopes Ferris is asleep for the night!”

And don’t think for a moment that the Backmeyers, even with all that has been happening, aren’t aware of the thoughts and prayers and love that have been sent their way.

“Once again, thanks so much to everyone for all the support,” Lindsey wrote “It’s been incredible!! It’s been exactly what we didn’t know we needed!! My brain is super fried, so the words really aren’t there to genuinely express how loved we feel! But we feel it! It’s so tangible! Love you guys.”

——

Leah Scott, a mother of three from Kamloops, was involved in Ferris’s transplant via the paired exchange program. Ferris and Leah weren’t matches, but Leah gave a kidney to a stranger in order for Ferris to receive a kidney from someone else, all as part of a chain.

On Saturday, Leah wrote:

“The final part of our journey to donation and transplant was spent finalizing testing, prepping, and a lot of breath-holding while we were continually reminded this could be called off right up to the day. And 20 days before our original surgery date, it was.

“For some painstaking days it all hung in the balance. But we got a new date. In two months. It felt too long. Too far. Yet in the end it set the stage for me to do some very important things at home for my own family and allowed my buddy to be her strongest and most ready that her family had ever seen.

“The timing was indeed perfect. The week was pretty textbook. My recipient took their kidney right away and was doing well. My buddy defied all odds and rocked her surgery better than anyone could have hoped for. It played out just as I had envisioned hundreds of times.

“I am forever changed. My faith is deeper and richer. I am humbled to have been called to something so much bigger than myself. The honour has been mine to be part of giving life to others.”

Ferris stable early after kidney transplant . . . Good news: ‘There is a big bag of pee’ . . . Youngster’s journey enters new chapter

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Ferris Backmeyer, 6, was stable early Friday after undergoing a kidney transplant in Toronto. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

Those people following the Backmeyer family’s journey through daughter Ferris’s second kidney transplant were greeted by seven glorious words on Friday morning.

“There is a big bag of pee.”

That was part of a brief update from Lindsey Backmeyer, Ferris’s mother, after her six-year-old daughter had undergone a kidney transplant during the night at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

The Backmeyers are from Kamloops.

“She’s been out for a few hours now. She’s stable,” Lindsey wrote on Facebook. “There is a big bag of pee. The doctors are all very happy with how she’s doing. Her surgeon told me it was a beautiful kidney and it woke up right away!”

All of that is awesome news. The fact that the new kidney quickly sprung into action and began producing urine is as good as things get at this stage.

“Her creatinine was already down to 120s,” Lindsey continued. “She’s breathing kinda fast and looking pretty puffy, but is managing okay at the moment.

“They are only replacing what comes out now. Let today be smooth and not scary!!”

——

To date, this has been a year of high stress for the Backmeyers, who had to relocate to Vancouver early on as Ferris encountered some infection issues that resulted in her having to be transitioned from peritoneal dialysis to hemodialysis. BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver is the only place in the province where children are able to receive hemo.

At the same time, the family was prepping for an April 25 transplant date in Toronto. However, that date was cancelled a week before as there was a break in the chain.

Ferris’s second transplant was done via the paired exchange program. While there was a break in the chain in April that wasn’t the case on Thursday.

The paired exchange program works like this: A donor, in this case Leah Scott of Kamloops, agrees to donate a kidney to a stranger, but only if the person she is acting on behalf of, in this case Ferris, gets one. What it amounts to is that Ferris and Leah weren’t matches, but when a match was found for Ferris, Leah offered to stay in the chain and see the process through to its end.

Due to privacy concerns, we aren’t privy to how many people are in a chain, but it could be four, six, eight . . . so you know that the logistics are something to behold.

——

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Ferris was looking rather chipper on Thursday before she underwent a kidney transplant. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

Lindsey wrote that the family — father Pat and older daughters Ksenia and

Tavia also are in Toronto — enjoyed Thursday before Ferris went into surgery that night.

“Mostly perfect day today,” Lindsey wrote. “(Ferris) would have said today was a great day although I’m not so sure what she’s gonna think of us all when she wakes up. She hopefully had her last hemo run.”

With all the testing behind her, Ferris was able to spend time with her family.

“She had zero tests so we took her for a walk to the park in the afternoon,” Lindsey said. “She FaceTimed auntie Terri and her friend Amilia! The day went by fairly quickly overall. She was a happy little clam all day.”

At the time Lindsey was writing this, Ferris likely was undergoing her second transplant in two years.

“It’s late here and she’s been in for a few hours now. Still a few more to go,” Lindsey wrote. “She had moments of being nervous today but she mostly was just so incredibly brave. Love her soooo much! Can’t wait to hold her again!”

——

This was the second time that Ferris underwent a transplant. She went through one on March 6, 2021, at BC Children’s Hospital, but there were complications and the new kidney had to be removed not long after it was put in place.

She has known almost nothing but dialysis, either peritoneal or hemo, for most of her young life. She wasn’t a candidate for a transplant earlier because of her small size and an inability to put on weight and keep it on.

There almost was transplant surgery in December 2020. The Backmeyers were at home in Kamloops when they got the call that a kidney was available for transplant. They left for Vancouver, but the surgery was cancelled at the last minute.

The transplant on March 6, 2021, followed.

After that transplant attempt failed, Lindsey explained:

“Urology basically said the donor kidney was perfect but it was challenging to anastamose to Ferris because of the size of her vessels. He basically said he wouldn’t consider another transplant again until she’s bigger, which terrifies me because she isn’t growing well on dialysis at all.

“He worried they underestimated her heart health and it might not have been strong enough to perfuse the organ. This is big scary stuff.”

But now, about three years after the Backmeyers were given the go-ahead to look for a living donor, here we are.

——

While the Backmeyers were in Toronto awaiting Thursday’s surgery, Leah Scott was in an undisclosed location where she had a kidney surgically removed earlier in the week. That kidney was then transplanted into a recipient as part of the chain that also included Ferris.

“I don’t believe that God ever needs us to fulfill His purpose,” Leah, a mother of three, wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “But I do think He chooses to use us when we are willing to say yes. And I think the blessing is that we get to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves. I believe the day is today.

“As hope builds within this sweet child’s community and this wave of green ribbons spreads and the anticipation rises that her win is here . . . I am so thankful I had the opportunity to say yes. It’s your day sweet girl. We all feel it!”

——

Perhaps no one summed up the emotions of all this any better than did Andrew Scott, Leah’s husband, who wrote:

“For anyone not already following along on Leah Scott posts, her recipient now has a working kidney.

“Ferris also got her kidney (Thursday) night. The surgery went well and now she begins her recovery.

“Continue to pray for Leah, Ferris and all of the other donors and recipients. This is a truly touching story and I fight back tears every time I read about lives being changed and all of the support and prayer covering these fighters have.

“Truly humbling.”

Ferris’s transplant day has arrived . . . You got this, girl!!! . . . Some hockey stuff here, too

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A lot of water has gone under the bridge since we were the parents of a youngster. But I still can remember the helpless feeling that came with having a child who was under the weather because of the flu or a bad cold or even just aches that couldn’t be clearly explained.

So I can’t imagine what it must be like to be waiting and waiting and waiting for your six-year-old to undergo her second kidney transplant, especially knowing that the first one didn’t work.

But that’s where Lindsey and Pat Backmeyer of Kamloops found themselves this week as Ferris, the youngest of their three daughters, was being prepared for a transplant.

Lindsey has kept family and friends up to date while doing a tremendous job of chronicling everything the family has gone through.

Ferris was scheduled for surgery late Thursday night at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

“I can’t even believe we are here and that my girl will be going for a kidney transplant today,” Lindsey wrote on Facebook earlier Thursday. “I think about it in my head and I get full-body goosebumps. To say it feels huge would be such an understatement!!”

The Backmeyers spent a few weeks in Vancouver as Ferris received some attention at BC Children’s Hospital. Then, a couple of weeks ago, they all flew to Toronto to await a transplant.

“Ferris never did convert to Eastern time and fell asleep at 1 a.m. (Thursday),” Lindsey wrote. “So she currently is still asleep and having her final dialysis run.”

After Ferris was to go into surgery, Lindsey said she didn’t “expect to see her until 5 a.m.-ish.”

So what does a mother do while waiting for something of this magnitude to happen?

“I’ve spent the morning just feeling all the support from everyone,” Lindsey wrote. “My feed is literally glowing green. To be so far from home, this really has helped me to not feel alone at all. It’s a big (bleeping) day. Our last attempt at this surgery resulted in the absolute worst day of my life. Let this time, be one of the best.”

Lindsey was writing while waiting for Ferris to awaken to the latest biggest day of her young life.

“She will wake up soon and my phone will get put away,” Lindsey explained. “We plan to hang out as a family. Probably a bunch of FaceTime. She already has a line so won’t need an IV. (Thursday) should be pain/trauma free for her.

“She has been a champ with the admission so far. She’s so much older and it’s a lot different than it was two years ago. This time, we had to prep her for it. Let her know she was going to be admitted and having surgery. That she needed to have a COVID swab. Ughh! She has had at least a dozen of them so knows exactly what they are. . . . She knows this is hard and if it works it means no more dialysis. She’s being so brave.

“I’ll update as I can but want everyone to know that we feel so supported and loved. It’s exactly what we need right now.”

In a decision released on Feb. 3, Justice Paul Perell refused to certify a proposed class-action lawsuit involving hazing, bullying and abuse against the CHL, the CHLthree major junior leagues (the OHL, QMJHL and WHL) and its teams. . . . That suit was filed in June 2020. . . .

Rick Westhead of TSN writes: “In his Feb. 3 decision, Perell wrote he’s convinced that abuse in junior hockey is widespread and has been for decades, and he applauded the bravery of former CHL players, including Dan Carcillo, Garrett Taylor, and Stephen Quirk, for sharing their stories in a public forum. Even so, he said the case was not suitable to proceed as a class-action lawsuit.” Why not? Perell wrote: “The immediate lawsuit is about egregious harms perpetrated on children and the persons or entities at fault should be punished, but even children know, and in their heart Messrs. Carcillo, Taylor, and Quirk in their noble pursuit of cleaning hockey must know it is wrong and fundamentally unjust to punish teams for something that somebody else did.”

On Thursday, Westhead reported that attorneys for those pursuing the lawsuit “have outlined a proposed path to justice for current and former players who want to join the case. In a 560-page motion filed in Ontario Superior Court on June 5, James Sayce, a lawyer with the Toronto firm Koskie Minsky LLP, wrote that any players wanting to pursue a case must be assured that their identities will be kept confidential, unless they choose to share their story publicly.”

Westhead’s complete story is right here.

Cauliflower

THE COACHING GAME:

The Swift Current Broncos lost an assistant coach on Wednesday when Matt Keillor left to join the Northwest Calgary Athletic Association as director of hockey operations. He had been on the Broncos’ staff for two seasons. . . . Keillor, 41, is from Calgary. . . .

The OHL’s Sarnia Sting announced on Wednesday that general manager Dylan Seca and head coach Alan Letang have agreed to three-year contracts. . . . Seca has been with the Sting since 2014-15, first working as the director of player personnel for five seasons. He has been the GM since May 2020. . . . Letang has been the head coach since June 2021. He joined the Sting from the Owen Sound Attack, where he spent five seasons, the last two as head coach. . . . The Sting also said that Brad Staubitz, the associate head coach, assistant coach Michael Haley, equipment manager Dawson Young and athletic therapist Jennifer Love will be returning for another season. . . .

Mathieu Turcotte is the new head coach of the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Turcotte, 38, has QMJHL experience, having worked as an assistant coach with the Val d’Or Foreurs, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Drummondville Voltigeurs. Last season, he guided the Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François to the Canadian U18 AAA Championship. . . . With the Armada, Turcotte replaces Bruce Richardson, who was fired in June after having been there since June 2018.

The biggest news from the NHL draft that wrapped up Thursday in Nashville? I would suggest that it was the decision by the Tampa Bay Lightning to reassign Al Murray, its director of amateur scouting and assistant GM, to senior adviser to the GM. Murray, 66, surely is a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He had been running Tampa Bay’s amateur scouting since Aug. 16, 2010.

Pork

JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

F Riley Fiddler-Schultz, who spent the past five seasons with the Calgary Hitmen, has signed a two-year deal with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Last season, as a 20-year-old, he put up 75 points, including 31 goals, and was named the Central Division’s first all-star team. In 246 regular-season games, he totalled 78 goals and 113 assists. . . .

The Prince Albert Raiders will have a new radio voice in 2023-24 with the news that Rob Mahon is leaving CKBI, the station that holds the team’s play-by-play rights. Mahon called the play of Raiders’ games for the past two seasons. . . .

The AJHL’s decision to go to a fully interlocking schedule will cost the Canmore Eagles about $65,000, team president Darryl Lockwood has told Jordan Small of the Rocky Mountain Outlook. As a result, the Eagles are pleading with the community for more support. . . . “We need the increased revenue, which means, unfortunately, that goes back to the customer, it goes back to the providers, back to community; ticket sales have to go up a little bit, sponsorship has to go up,” Lockwood said. “We’re not here saying, ‘Hey, we messed up and we blew some money,’ that kind of thing. We’re here saying that we’re faced with a real challenge and so the support from what everyone can do will be grateful this year. Please understand, we need your support because of the challenge we’re faced with.” . . . Small’s story is right here.

Torch

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.

Childbirth

The story of kidney transplant process, from recipient’s mother and a living donor . . .

All signs are pointing to this being a big week for the Backmeyer family of Kamloops, what with Ferris, 6, in line to get a new kidney at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The Backmeyers have been in Toronto for a couple of weeks now and it seems that things have gone well to this point. So sometime over the next few days Ferris just might get a kidney from a living donor via the paired exchange program.

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Lindsey Backmeyer and Ferris, her six-year-old daughter, are in Toronto and they’re ready for a second kidney transplant. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

What follows is the story of people involved in this chapter of Ferris’s life and what they have gone through and continue to experience as the transplantation process moves along.

On Sunday, Lindsey, Ferris’ mother, introduced the world to Leah Scott and, in the process, provided a great look at the process.

“If you don’t already know,” Lindsey wrote on Facebook, “this beautiful human is Ferris’s paired exchange donor. Leah Scott has been working toward this now for 2.5 years!!!!

“I met Leah at work. She worked in emerg (at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops) and I made friends with one of her besties. Friendly acquaintances at best. However, she heard about Ferris and Leah’s remarkable ability to put herself into another’s shoes led her to where we are today. She has felt a calling and has fought really hard to get where she is today. All while living her life, raising her kids, working her business!!

“Donating a kidney in Canada isn’t an easy process. Aside from the fact that she’s going to give Ferris her second chance, she’s become one of my biggest cheerleaders and offers support like none other.

“I sit here (Sunday night), knowing that this is all happening sooooon. We aren’t allowed to talk about dates, times and locations but we are in Toronto (everyone knows that already) and by the end of this week my girl should be on the other side.

“Leah has started her journey. She’s left her kids with family and is with her husband awaiting her surgery which is soon.”

When it happens, it will be the second transplant that Ferris will have undergone. The first one, from a deceased donor, took place on the afternoon of March 6, 2021, at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. However, there were complications and the kidney was removed later that night.

Between then and now, there were lots of twists and turns, including one that involved another person who was found to be a match for Ferris. With all that’s happening now, Lindsey couldn’t help but think of her.

“I think about how we even got here (in Toronto) and it really wouldn’t be without Ferris’s original donor,” Lindsey wrote. “The one who brought us to Toronto in the first place. She’s a nurse who works at (B.C. Children’s Hospital) and Canuck Place. She heard about Ferris in one of her nursing groups at the time of her failed transplant.

“I won’t disclose her name as she remained mostly anonymous throughout the whole process. We did connect just a week before I learned about the second kidney via paired exchange. She’s lovely. Has a big beautiful family. She didn’t want me to feel like I owed her anything and also wanted to be sure it was ‘on’ before reaching out.

“She was a good match for Ferris but BCCH surgeons didn’t feel comfortable doing the surgery. Knowing how challenging it is to find a good match she asked if they would get a second surgical opinion. She just wanted the best for Ferris and I can’t help but love her for that.

“A perfect stranger . . . that’s what got us access to Toronto Sick Kids Hospital. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be HERE!”

And now the Backmeyers are ready, as is Leah Scott.

“Leah, we love you!! You’re so special and will always be loved by our family,” Lindsey wrote. “I hope everything goes so smoothly for you. I’ll be thinking of you tons as you prepare for this. It’s friggin huge. We are finally here. Huge hugs!!!”

As for Leah, she also took to Facebook, writing that “2.5 years ago, God laid it on my heart to donate (a) kidney to a child of a friendly work acquaintance. I started the process to get tested knowing deep in my spirit that I would be part of her story. During my testing, she got a deceased donor kidney and I wondered if I heard wrong. But that kidney was unsuccessful. So I kept going until they told me I was a match! But then they told me they didn’t want my kidney because it was too big and I could get out of the donation program. I said I would stay. Because I knew that God had other plans . . .

“A couple of months after, they told me that they didn’t need me anymore and they weren’t pursuing paired exchange at this time. We found out Ferris was highly sensitized, meaning it would be close to impossible to find her a new kidney. So I reached out to ask to be retested and we were no longer a match.

“But . . . they were willing to try the paired exchange program if I was willing to be paired with her, meaning if a kidney came up for her, she would get that one and I would give mine to a stranger.

“I said, ‘Yes.’ That was 1.5 years ago.

“While we waited on the paired exchange list, another living donor came up. She was slated for transplantation in April. I had no idea why God had called me to this but it seemed like it wasn’t going to be me to be part of her journey after all.

“Every week our paths crossed at piano lessons for this past year. Every week, I prayed that I would see what God had for me next. Maybe someone else would need a kidney and I was ready.

“Then on Feb. 3, 2023, I got a call from the donor program. They had a better kidney (that is her miraculous just-right match) in the program if I was willing to donate.”

That brings us to this week. The Backmeyers are in Toronto. Leah Scott will be in a hospital somewhere in Canada; the location is known only to a few because of privacy concerns. But the preliminary testing is over and there doesn’t appear to be anything but green lights.

So let’s keep these folks in our thoughts and prayers as the clock ticks.

McCrimmon, Golden Knights on top of hockey world . . . Gretzky’s last NHL sweater sells for big dough . . . Roy leaves Memorial Cup champions

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Kelly McCrimmon and his newest best friend, the Stanley Cup. (Photo: Mike Fraser/Facebook)

We can only imagine the emotions that dominated Kelly McCrimmon’s very being on Tuesday night as the general manager of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights watched his charges win the Stanley Cup.

If you spent the night under a rock, the Golden Knights, playing at home in front of the NHL’s most raucous fans, beat the Florida Panthers, 9-3, to win the best-of-seven final in five games.

And there was McCrimmon taking it all in from his seat alongside George McPhee, the president of hockey operations.

You can bet that McCrimmon’s late brother, Brad, was first and foremost in Kelly’s thoughts. The McCrimmon boys, from Plenty, Sask., were close, really close.

Brad’s name already is on the Stanley Cup; he was a leader on the 1988-89 Calgary Flames. And now Kelly’s name will be there, too.

The thought of having his name on hockey’s Holy Grail, right there where Brad’s name has been for all these years, will have been overwhelming. In fact, Kelly used that exact word — overwhelming — in an emotional post-game interview with Sportsnet’s David Amber and Elliotte Friedman.

“It’s an honour,” McCrimmon said. “It’s surreal. It’s overwhelming.”

It turns out that Liam, Maureen and Brad’s son, was among family members in Vegas last night.

As Kelly told Ambler and Friedman: “These things are only special if you have the right people to share them with.”

Brad, of course, was killed on Sept. 7, 2011. He had joined the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl as head coach and the team was en route to its first game of the season when it went down.

Kelly, whom I have known since the fall of 1978, may be the smartest, shrewdest and most patient person I have met in more than 50 years of being around the world of hockey.

Consider that after playing two seasons (1978-80) with the Brandon Wheat Kings, he went on to spend four seasons with the U of Michigan Wolverines, the last one as team captain. You’re right! How many WHL players move on to play four years with an NCAA team?

Patience?

He almost ended up with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was interviewed for a front-office position with them in the summer of 2015. Toronto didn’t have a GM at the time and McCrimmon, the owner, GM and head coach of the Wheat Kings at the time, was the WHL’s reigning executive of the year.

In the end, he chose to stay in Brandon, citing loyalty to a Wheat Kings team that he and his staff had worked hard to put together with an eye on contending in 2015-16. That edition of the Wheat Kings would win the WHL championship, and a couple of months later, the time and the place now being right, he joined the Golden Knights as assistant GM. He was promoted to GM on May 2, 2019, with McPhee moving into the president’s office.

And, last night, there was Kelly McCrimmon, a Stanley Cup champion.

And please don’t be buying any of that bunk about the NHL handing the Golden Knights a championship on a platter. Yes, they were able to take advantage of the rules granted them as an expansion franchise, but, hey, you shouldn’t get chopped liver when you’re paying US$500 million. Was it their fault that they were able to get Jonathan Marchessault, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, from Florida in the expansion draft?

They reached the Stanley Cup final that season, 2017-18, too, only to lose to the Washington Capitals. One year later, McCrimmon moved up to GM and he hasn’t stopped dealing.

If you weren’t aware, the Golden Knights’ roster includes one of their own draft picks — F Nic Hague, who scored their second goal last night.

This is a team that was put together by McCrimmon, with input from McPhee, and a staff that includes Vaughn Karpan, the director of player personnel; Bob Lowes, the assistant director of player personnel; pro scouts Kelly Kisio, Jim McKenzie and Craig Cunningham, and amateur scouts Bruno Campese, Erin Ginnell and Brad McEwen. The coaching staff includes Ryan Craig.

What do they all have in common? Each of them has ties to the WHL, and that’s a thread that runs through the Golden Knights, from captain Mark Stone, who played for McCrimmon in Brandon and was his captain there, too, to four of the five goaltenders on the roster. All Stone did last night was score three times — the game’s most-important goal, the first one (shorthanded), his club’s fifth one and the game’s final goal. The last time someone scored three goals in Stanley Cup-clinching game? Babe Dye did it with the Toronto St. Pats in on March 28, 1922, scoring four times in a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Millionaires.

(Steve Simmons of Postmedia has a column right here that details how this Vegas team was built.)

Knowing McCrimmon, I can imagine that spent last night celebrating and enjoying the moment. In the morning, he will have started planning for next season.

F Riley Sutter’s second playoff goal gave the host Hershey Bears a 5-4 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 3 of the AHL’s Calder Cup final on Tuesday night in front of 10,580 fans. . . . The Firebirds, in their first season of existence, hold a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven final with Game 4 in Hershey on Thursday and Game 5 there on Saturday. . . . Sutter played four seasons (2015-19) with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. . . . The Firebirds trailed 4-2 before F Cameron Hughes scored twice, the first one on a PP, at 15:26 and 19:09 of the third period. . . . F Garrett Pilon, a former WHLer, had a goal and an assist for Hershey.

Unsinkable

There was an interesting development in the world of NCAA hockey on Tuesday as the U of Maine Black Bears announced that D Artyom Duda has committed to join them for the 2023-24 season. Duda, 6-foot-1 and 187 pounds, is from Moscow, Russia. The 19-year-old was a second-round selection by the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL’s 2022 draft. . . . The interesting part of this signing is that Duda played 14 games with CSKA Moskva of the KHL in 2022-23. The KHL is a professional league, so it will be interesting to see what how the NCAA deals with his eligibility. . . . Hey, if WHL players are ineligible to go the NCAA route because that organization sees them as professionals . . .

The sweater that Wayne Gretzky wore for the final game of his NHL career with the New York Rangers on April 18, 1999 sold for US$715,120 at Grey Flannel Auctions on Sunday night. From a news release: “It’s the third most valuable hockey jersey to sell at auction behind Gretzky’s final Stanley Cup jersey during the 1987-1988 season with the Oilers, which sold for $1.452 million and Paul Henderson’s 1972 jersey from the Summit Series which sold for $1.3 million. It’s the highest price realized for a US-based hockey jersey. Mike Eruzione’s 1980 Miracle on Ice jersey vs. the USSR is the second highest total selling for $657,250.”

THE COACHING GAME:

Jacques Tanguay, the Quebec Remparts’ president, and Patrick Roy, the general manager and head coach, both announced on Tuesday that they are leaving the QMJHL franchise. The announcements came nine days after the Remparts, the QMJHL champions, won the Memorial Cup with a 5-0 victory over the WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds in Kamloops. . . . “In life,” Roy said during a news conference in Quebec City, “you must be able to leave at the right time. Today, I can leave my positions and say ‘Mission accomplished.’ ” . . . Roy’s decision wasn’t unexpected as there had been speculation about his future all season. His announcement came on the same day that the sale of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators to a group headed by Michael Andlauer was announced. As he assumes ownership of the Senators, Andlauer has to unload his 20 per cent share in the Montreal Canadiens. All of this has led to speculation that Roy could end up on the Senators’ coaching staff. . . . Roy, however, says there hasn’t been any interest shown by any NHL team or teams. . . . Luc Lang of The Canadian Press has more on the Roy story right here. . . .

It’s official! The QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles announced on Tuesday that Jon Goyens is out as head coach after one season. According to the Eagles’ news release, this was one of those deals where the two parties “mutually agreed to part ways.” . . . In his only season as head coach, Goyens guided the Eagles into the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. . . .

The BCHL’s Langley Rivermen have signed Tyler Kuntz as associate general manager and associate head coach. Kuntz is a former assistant coach with the Vancouver Giants (2015-17). . . . Langley’s ownership change was approved at the league’s recent annual general meeting. . . . Kuntz spent two seasons (2018-20) as GM/head coach of the BCHL’s Powell River Kings, then moved to St. George’s School as head coach of the U18 prep team.

JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

Longtime scout Ray Dudra has decided to retire after almost 40 years with WHL teams. Dudra started in 1983-84 as a regional scout with the Medicine Hat Tigers. He also spent 18 seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, as a scout, director of player personnel and director of player development. He also scouted for the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades. Most recently, he has been with the Tri-City Americans. . . . Dudra rides off into retirement with the sunset reflecting off his four Memorial Cup rings — Medicine Hat in 1987 and 1988, Spokane in 1991 and 2008). . . . Congrats, Ray, and here’s to a long and healthy retirement. . . .

The SJHL held its annual general meeting last weekend in North Battleford. If you’re wondering what all went on, there’s a news release right here. . . . The one item involving change that I found particularly interesting is that “any Saskatchewan-born player a team is attempting to trade out of province must be placed on an internal waiver before the player can be moved outside of the league.”

PriusTruck

THINKING OUT LOUD:

Does the end of the NHL playoffs mean the end of Hyundai making WAH! . . . Having Nick Taylor, two days from winning golf’s Canadian Open, do the voice-over to open Tuesday’s NHL show was a stroke of genius from Sportsnet. It was brilliant! . . . And to end the broadcast with the late Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind, well, things got a bit misty here. . . . I saw this comment on Facebook on Tuesday, and it pretty much says it all: “They have to put warnings on Subway wrappers telling people not to eat the wrapper. This is where we are now.” . . . Sheesh, Kelowna, what has happened to you? . . . Is Gene Hackman one of the most under-rated actors of our time, or what?

——

As you make your way through this week, please keep the Backmeyer family of Kamloops in your thoughts. The five of them — Lindsey and Pat, Ferris and her older sisters, Tavia and Ksenia — flew out of Vancouver on Sunday, en route to Toronto where Ferris, 6, is scheduled to undergo a second kidney transplant at some point in the near future. . . . You want strength and courage? Well, Ferris has been battling kidney disease all of her young life and has been on dialysis, either peritoneal or hemo, all that time. . . . She underwent a transplant in Vancouver on March 6, 2021, but there were complications and the kidney was removed that night. So, if all goes according to plan, another attempt will be made in the next few weeks.

Late Sunday, Lindsey posted on Facebook: “According to the itinerary it’s just hemo (Monday), sooooo shouldn’t be too bad. Her final crossmatch is drawn on Tuesday. Results should be back by the following Monday. It’s another point in which things could get called off. Heck there’s so many variables it’s really a one-day-at-a-time situation!”

And congratulations to Pat who, through all of this, graduated from Thompson Rivers University’s nursing program a week ago. What an accomplishment!

——

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.

Ricky

Ice opens by blanking Blades . . . Seattle, Kamloops start tonight . . . Brooks wins another AJHL title

WHL

WHL PLAYOFF NOTES:

The Eastern Conference final opened in Winnipeg last night with the Ice skating to a 3-0 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. They’ll play Game 2 today in Winnipeg, then head for Saskatoon and games on Tuesday and Wednesday. . . . Saskatoon has had eight home games in these playoffs and drawn seven of the top 10 crowds. The other three were for games that featured the Blades against the host Regina Pats. . . . The announced attendance last night in Winnipeg was 1,613, which was lower than the Ice’s average of 1,650 for 34 regular-season games. . . .

And the Western Conference final gets started tonight with the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers visiting the No. 1 Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash. . . . This will be the second straight season in which the conference final has featured these two franchises; Seattle won in seven games a year ago.

You are free to wonder how whether rust — or perhaps nerves — will be a factor in Game 1 tonight. Each of these teams is 8-0 this spring, but Seattle hasn’t played since April 19, while the Blazers have been off since April 20. The Thunderbirds swept aside the No. 8 Kelowna Rockets and No. 4 Prince George Cougars. The Blazers took care of the No. 7 Vancouver Giants and the No. 3 Portland Winterhawks.

Seattle and Kamloops met twice in the last week of the regular season — the Thunderbirds won, 6-3, in Kent on March 21; the Blazers won, 6-5, in Kamloops the next night. Kamloops also won, 3-2, in a shootout in Kent on March 7. . . . Earlier, Seattle won, 2-1 in OT, in Kamloops on Nov. 9.

If you want a whole lot more on this series, there is an in-depth preview available on the WHL website.

They’ll play Game 2 in Kent on Sunday, and then head to Kamloops for games on Tuesday and Thursday. Interestingly, should this series go seven games, they’ll play Games 6 and 7 on back-to-back nights — May 8 in Kamloops and May 9 in Kent.

The 2023 Kamloops Kidney Walk is scheduled for June 4, and Dorothy is taking part once again. She will celebrate 10 years as a kidney-transplant recipient in September, so the annual Kidney Walk is a big deal for her. In fact, she is participating for a 10th straight year. Yes, that means she is fund-raising, with all donations going to the Kidney Foundation. . . . Things are rolling right along, too, as she now has surpassed $3,400 thanks to help from people like the former WHL coach who checked in on Friday. . . . If you are interested in helping, you are able to do so on her home page, which is right here.

FRIDAY IN THE WHL PLAYOFFS:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Saskatoon (2) at Winnipeg (1) —  The Winnipeg Ice scored two first-period WinnipegIcegoals 1:26 apart en route to a 3-0 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. . . . They’ll play Game 2 today in Winnipeg, starting at 4 p.m. . . . D Ben Zloty (1) opened the scoring at 14:39 of the first period. He went into the game with no goals and a WHL-leading 15 assists. . . . The Ice went ahead 2-0 at 16:05 when F Zach Ostapchuk (8) scored a shorthanded penalty-shot goal, putting the puck off a post and in. He has goals in eight of the 10 games in which he has played in these playoffs. . . . D Carson Lambos (1) upped the lead to 3-0 at 7:45 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon was 0-for-4 on the PP; Winnipeg was 0-for-1. . . . G Daniel Hauser recorded the shutout with 16 saves. He is 9-1, 2.56, .907 in the playoffs, after going 37-4-1, 2.28, .917 in the regular season. . . . The Blades got 25 stops from G Ethan Chadwick. . . . Were the Blades, coming off two seven-game series, showing signs of fatigue in the latter part of the game? The Ice outshot them 8-4 in the second period and 10-4 in the third. . . . Saskatoon F Justin Lies was back in action after having served a three-game suspension. . . . The Blades continue to be without D Blake Gustafson, who was injured in the previous series. . . . With D Ben Saunderson also injured, Saskatoon had D Morgan Tastad make his playoff debut. The 6-foot-4 Tastad, a 17-year-old from Loreburn, Sask., played in one regular-season game. He was a ninth-round pick by the Blades in the WHL’s 2021 draft.

Slingshot

JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

The WHL will be well-represented on the officiating front at the IIHF World men’s hockey championship in Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. Referees Adam Bloski and Mike Langin, along with linesmen Brett Mackey and Tarrington Wyonzek, will be working games in what is the biggest tournament of the season in some countries. Each of the foursome will be working his first world championship. . . . The tournament is scheduled to open on May 12 and run through May 28. . . .

The BCHL’s Penticton Vees ran their playoff winning streak to 25 on Friday night with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Salmon Arm Silverbacks. This was Game 1 of the Interior Conference final. The Vees lost their first playoff game a year ago, then won 16 in a row as they skated to the championship. This spring, they now are 9-0. . . . In the Coastal Conference, the host Alberni Valley Bulldogs opened with a 9-5 victory over the Chilliwack Chiefs. . . . Game 2 in both series will be played tonight in the same venues. . . .

In the AJHL, the Brooks Bandits beat the visiting Spruce Grove Saints, 3-2 in OT, on Friday night to win the championship in five games. F Brendan Poshak’s third goal of the playoffs won it at 5:10 of extra time to give the Bandits their seventh AJHL title. . . . Brooks will represent the AJHL in the Centennial Cup tournament in Portage la Prairie, Man., and the Bandits go in as the two-time defending champions. The tournament runs from May 11 through May 21.

THE COACHING GAME:

Brien Gemmell is the new head coach of the junior B White Rock Whalers of the Pacific Junior Hockey League. Gemmell has been coaching for more than 30 years, most recently in the Cloverdale, B.C., minor hockey ranks. This season, his U18 Tier 1 team won bronze at the provincial championship. . . . Gemmell takes over from Jason Rogers, who, according to the team, “is stepping down from his role as head coach.” Rogers is to remain with the organization as senior advisor. He had been the team’s head coach since its first season (2018-19).

THINKING OUT LOUD: The first round of the NFL draft on Thursday had 11.29 million TV viewers in the U.S. Yes, the NFL is No. 1 and it isn’t even close. As Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) pointed out, “That’s more than the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Stanley Cup final, World Series Games 2 & 3, Wimbledon, French Open, Australian Open, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and British Open.” . . . In case you missed it, this was Rick Bowness, the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets after a season-ending 4-1 loss to the host Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday: “I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now. There has to be pride. You have to be able to push back when things aren’t going your way. We had no pushback. Their better players were so much better than ours tonight. They deserved to win.” So who goes before a new season arrives . . . the head coach or some players? . . . F Matthew Phillips, who was a thrill to watch when he played with the WHL’s Victoria Royals, scored 36 goals for the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers this season and 15 of them were game-winners. On Friday night, he scored in OT to give the Wranglers a 4-3 victory over the Abbotsford Canucks. The Wranglers lead the best-of-five series, 2-0. The NHL’s Calgary Flames lost 30 one-goal games this season and missed the playoffs, but somehow Phillips wasn’t able to play for them.

——

——

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.

Doctor

Ice back in Eastern final after ousting Warriors . . . Rebels, Blades to decide winner tonight . . . Ottawa 67’s upset in OHL playoffs

As you can see by the above tweet, Ferris Backmeyer, a six-year-old sweetheart from Kamloops, has a new best friend in the person of Regina Pats star Connor Bedard. . . . Ferris is in need of a kidney transplant and there are hopes that will happen in the next few weeks, perhaps in late June, at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She was to have had the transplant via a live donor this week but something happened to disrupt the chain a few weeks ago and surgery was postponed. Of late, Ferris has had to deal with a few medical issues that also may have slowed things. . . . Ferris, who has been on peritoneal or hemo dialysis almost all of her young life, actually underwent a kidney transplant two years ago, but there was an issue and the ‘new’ kidney had to be removed. . . . What all of this means is that there are a lot of crossed fingers and toes and a lot of prayers up for Ferris in Kamloops.

WHL

WHL PLAYOFF NOTES:

The Winnipeg Ice will make its second straight appearance in the Eastern Conference final having ousted the Moose Jaw Warriors on Monday night. The Ice put up an 8-2 victory in Moose Jaw to win that semifinal, 4-2. . . . Winnipeg now awaits the winner of Game 7 between the Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades. That game is scheduled for Saskatoon tonight. According to Colin Priestner, the Blades’ president and general manager, 6,600 seats were sold in the first 38 minutes of sales. Have to think there will be more than 8,000 fans in the house tonight. . . .

One year ago, the Ice lost the Eastern Conference final in five games to the Edmonton Oil Kings, who won the last three games en route to winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions. . . .

The Blades, meanwhile, will be trying to get a piece of WHL history. As I wrote here on Sunday night, the Blades will be attempting to become the third team in WHL history to win a series after losing the first three games. . . . Interestingly, the only two teams to have managed this feat needed OT in Game 7. . . . In 1996, the Spokane Chiefs beat the Portland Winterhawks in Game 7, winning 4-3 when F Darren Sinclair scored 58 seconds into OT. . . . In 2013, the Kelowna Rockets beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-2 in OT, in Game 7, winning on a goal at 5:10 by F Tyson Baillie. . . . Saskatoon had an opportunity to do it in a 1990 Eastern Conference semifinal but lost Game 7, 4-3 in OT, to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on a goal by F Neil Hawryluk at 2:31 of extra time. . . .

Keep in mind that the Rebels won the first three games of this series and held a 2-0 first-period lead in Game 4 at home before the Blades roared back. . . .

The Rebels will be without F Jhett Larson tonight as he serves a one-game suspension after picking up an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of Game 6 on Sunday. The Rebels also were fined $500 for having a player instigate in the final five minutes of a game. . . . At the same time, F Frantisek Formanek will return to Red Deer’s lineup after having served a one-game suspension that was assessed under supplemental discipline. He took a boarding minor for a hit on Saskatoon D Blake Gustafson, who didn’t play in Game 6. . . . The Blades will be without F Justin Lies, as he completes a three-game suspension for a headshot on Rebels F Karan Lind in Game 4. Lind has yet to return to Red Deer’s lineup.

The 2023 Kamloops Kidney Walk is scheduled for June 4, and Dorothy is taking part once again. She will celebrate 10 years as a kidney-transplant recipient in September, so the annual Kidney Walk is a big deal for her. In fact, she is participating for a 10th straight year. Yes, that means she is fund-raising, with all donations going to the Kidney Foundation. . . . Things are rolling right along, too, as she surpassed $3,000 on Saturday. . . . If you are interested in helping, you are able to do so on her home page, which is right here.

MONDAY IN THE WHL PLAYOFFS:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Winnipeg (1) at Moose Jaw (4) — The Winnipeg Ice built up a 6-0 lead before WinnipegIcethe 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.

JUNIOR JOTTINGS:

F Lukas Sawchyn, selected sixth overall overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL’s 2022 U.S. prospect draft, has opted for the USHL’s Chicago Steel. Sawchyn, 16, put up 78 points, including 28 goals, in 57 games with the 16U AAA team at Shattuck St. Mary’s this season. His 18-year-old old brother, Gracyn, is in his first season with the Thunderbirds. He was selected No. 1 overall by the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL’s 2020 U.S. prospect draft and later was traded to Seattle. . . .

Might the Salmon Arm Silverbacks be able to throw a scare into the Penticton Vees in the BCHL’s Interior Conference final? The Vees, who have won 24 straight playoff games going back to last season, are 8-0 as they play host to Game 1 on Friday. The Silverbacks are 8-1, that lone loss coming in OT. . . . The Vernon Vipers opened a second-round series with a 4-3 OT victory over Salmon Arm, only to have the Silverbacks win the next four games. . . . The BCHL’s other semifinal will feature the Chilliwack Chiefs against either the Alberni Valley Bulldogs or Surrey Eagles. They’ll play Game 7 tonight in Surrey. . . .

The Ottawa 67’s, the OHL’s top team in the 2022-23 regular season, were eliminated from the playoffs on Monday as they lost, 5-4, to the host Peterborough Petes, who won the series in six games. Ottawa had finished 33 points ahead of the Petes. . . . The Petes will face either the North Bay Battalion or Barrie Colts in one semifinal. Barrie, playing at home, won 4-2 on Monday to tie the series, 3-3. They will play Game 7 in North Bay tonight. . . . On the other side of the draw, the London Knights and Sarnia Sting will meet. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday in London. . . .

The OHL’s Guelph Storm has signed general manager George Burnett to a contract extension that will run through the 2025-26 season. Burnett started his second stint with the Storm, this time as GM/head coach, prior to the 2017-18 season. He stepped aside as head coach in order to focus on the GM’s role before this season got started. . . . At the time, co-owner Scott Walker, a former NHLer, took over as head coach. However, he had to leave the position for health reasons in October, so associate coach Chad Wiseman now is the head coach. . . .

The QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic fired general manager/head coach Serge Beausoleil on Monday. He had been with one team longer than any other head coach in the league, having been there since 2011-12. . . . Danny Dupont now is the interim general manager while ownership decides on the franchise’s direction. . . . In 12 seasons in Rimouski, Beausoleil won 487 regular-season games. This season, the Oceanic finished 33-26-9, good for ninth place in the 18-team league. Rimouski won a first-round series, 4-1, over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, then was swept by the Quebec Remparts. . . .

The QMJHL playoffs are down to the Final Four, with the Quebec Remparts meeting the Gatineau Olympiques, and the Halifax Mooseheads facing the Sherbrooke Phoenix. These were the league’s top four regular-season teams — Quebec and Halifax were first and second in the Eastern Conference, finishing just two points apart, while Sherbrooke and Gatineau tied atop the Western Conference.

Noah

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.

Food

Kamloops kidney news: Rosalyn, Jim and friends go walking; Ferris goes to Toronto; Zach goes golfing

Walk
The Butterfields — Rosalyn (left) and Jim (third from left) — were joined by family and friends for a Hike4Mike at McArthur Island in Kamloops on Sunday.

Rosalyn and Jim Butterfield are part of the Kamloops kidney community, which is why a few of us gathered at McArthur Island on Sunday afternoon.

Their son, Mike, who lives on the Lower Mainland of B.C., has polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and recently started dialysis. Yes, he needs a kidney transplant. He is on the transplant list and fingers are crossed that his time will come soon.

PKD is a mostly hereditary disease, according to the Mayo Clinic, “in which clusters of cysts develop primarily within your kidneys, causing your kidneys to enlarge and lose function over time. . . . It’s not uncommon for people to have (PKD) for years without knowing it.”

Also from the Mayo Clinic: “Sometimes a genetic mutation occurs on its own (spontaneous), so that neither parent has a copy of the mutated gene.”

The PKD Foundation of Canada reports that PKD “is one of the most common life-threatening diseases, affecting approximately one in 400 to one in 1,000. It does not skip a generation. There is usually a family history of the disease and parents . . . have a 50 per cent chance of passing the disease on to each of their children.

PKD “is passed from one generation to the next by an affected parent. . . . Scientists have also discovered that approximately 10 to 20 percent of the PKD patient community became affected through spontaneous mutation.”

According to Rosalyn, her family falls into that latter category.

Rosalyn and Jim showed up three or four years ago for a gathering of the Kamloops Kidney Support Group. Their son had been diagnosed with KPD and hey had a whole lot of questions that we tried to answer as best we could. Since then, they have continued to join our sessions when possible.

On Sunday, then, a group of family and friends took part in a ‘Team Hike4Mike.’ We weren’t trying to raise money or anything like that. It was simply a show of support for the Butterfields, who continue to try and raise the profile of PKD,

Donor
Rosalyn and Jim Butterfield had this sign installed in the rear window of their vehicle as they searched for a kidney for their son, Mike.

Meanwhile, Ferris Backmeyer, 5, and her mother, Lindsey, of Kamloops arrived in Toronto late Saturday.

They are in for a busy couple of days as Ferris, who was diagnosed with kidney disease shortly after birth, is to be introduced to the staff at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Ferris
Lindsey Backmeyer and her daughter, Ferris, enjoyed a quiet flight to Toronto on Saturday. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

Lindsey posted on Facebook that Ferris will have Monday appointments from 8 a.m. through 3:30 p.m., and then be involved in “sleep study” that night.

“She leaves that to immediately start another full day off appointments (on Tuesday),” Lindsey posted on Facebook. “Wednesday is full, too, and we go from the hospital to the airport. Home midnight Wednesday.”

You may recall that Ferris underwent a transplant in Vancouver in March 2021. However, a kidney that was transplanted one afternoon was removed that night because of developing issues with it.

The Backmeyers have held out hope since then that another kidney could be found for transplant, but that hasn’t happened. The plan now is for a different medical team to get an up-close look at Ferris with the hope that new eyes may see new opportunities.

As Lindsey wrote on Saturday after arriving in Toronto: “Ferris really enjoyed the day today. She travelled amazingly well. I’m really proud of her. This is going to be an adventure for all of us. Short. Whirlwind. Hopefully life changing. The journey to get here is just the beginning!”

Zach
Zach Tremblay looks to be enjoying himself as he helps play host to the Children’s Organ Transplant Society’s annual golf tournament. He is the society’s 2022 Ambassador. (Photo: Children’s Organ Transplant Society)

Zach Tremblay of Robson, B.C., who also is awaiting a kidney transplant, was in Vancouver for the weekend in his role as the Children’s Organ Transplant Society’s 2022 Ambassador. He helped the society play host to its annual Classic Golf Tournament.

When at home in Robson, Zach, 19, makes the drive to Trail three times a week in order to undergo dialysis. Born with renal hypoplasia-dysplasia, he underwent a transplant on June 1, 2017. Unfortunately, there was a problem and the transplanted organ had to be removed.

His mother, Jana, told Gord McIntyre of Postmedia: “What should have been a fairly routine four-hour surgery lasted about eight hours. They finally came and found my husband and me to tell us that a technical error had been made during the surgery and it cut off the blood flow to the kidney.”

McIntyre added: “Two more surgeries were performed overnight trying to save the kidney. When a test the next morning showed the kidney was not functioning, Zach required a fourth operation within 24 hours to remove the failed organ.”

Now we are heading to the end of 2022 and Zach continues to wait for another chance.

Zachposter2

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.

Want an easy win to feel great? Register to be an organ donor today. It will only #TakeTwoMinutes and you could save a life. Great deed and fuzzy feels without any hassle. #Register2Give taketwominutes.ca

Canadian country star cuts Ferris Wheel as tribute to Kamloops youngster . . . Based on poem by family friend . . . Mom: ‘We have this song forever’

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Ferris Backmeyer continues her wait for a kidney transplant, and now she is the subject of a wonderful song by Canadian country star Lisa Brokop. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

Lisa Brokop, a highly decorated Canadian country music star, has recorded a song — Ferris Wheel — that was inspired by a poem written by Alvina Snell.

The poem/song is a tribute to Ferris Backmeyer, a five-year-old from Kamloops who has been on dialysis for more than four years as she and her family wait and hope for a kidney transplant.

“The more I listen to it, the more I love it,” Lindsey Backmeyer, Ferris’s mother, wrote on Facebook. “I just can’t even put into words how special it is to me and my family. No matter what happens and how things go, we have this song forever.”

(There is a Facebook link to the song right here. It is accompanied by a video that includes lots of photos of Ferris and her family. Warning: Have tissues at hand!)

Lindsey explained that Alvina had been wanting to do “something special” for the Backmeyers.

“Alvina messaged me awhile back wanting to do something special for our family,” Lindsey wrote. “Help spread the word and help us find a kidney for Ferris. Lisa was offering her fans the opportunity to purchase a song written and recorded by her as a gift to loved ones. Alvina jumped on it!

“The song is inspired by a poem that Alvina wrote. It was beautiful all on its own! She has followed me on Facebook since Ferris was a baby and managed to write something so beautiful and personal. I definitely couldn’t have written anything like that!”

Out of that poem came Lisa’s song.

“Lisa used the poem and some pictures taken from my Facebook feed to create this song,” Lindsey continued. “I am completely in love with it. It’s one of the most special gifts we ever could have received. Huge thanks to both of those ladies!”

In the meantime, the search continues for a kidney for Ferris.

Lindsey explained where things are at right now:

“She has been on dialysis for four years now and had a failed surgical transplant last spring. She has become highly sensitized, which means she’s incredibly hard to match — fewer than three per cent of the population would be a potential match. In addition, she has really small anatomy making a transplant more challenging. Everyone seems to agree that a live donor will give Ferris the best chance at success.

“We have seen a significant decline in her quality of life over the past year. She is currently on dialysis 14 hours every night. She has little physical energy for running and playing. We all know that her only shot at a better life is a successful kidney transplant.”

Over the past while a number of people have offered to be tested but, as Lindsey put it, “so far no one has been approved to donate to Ferris.”

Lindsey also admits that things are getting desperate “and the stakes are soooo high. I have everything to lose. So I’m stepping out of my comfort zone!

“I hope to share Ferris’s story because I believe it’s incredible and worth sharing. She is just soooo special.”

Meanwhile, on the transplant front, it sounds as though Ferris could soon be off to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

“I don’t have dates yet,” Lindsey posted, “but they want Ferris to come for transplant assessment with the intention for her to be transplanted at their hospital.”

This would involve having Ferris there late next month or early in September for about a week of assessment and meetings.

The person with whom Lindsey spoke “said we would then come home and they would come up with a date for transplant. At that time we would be asked to come two weeks before (for) final testing. . . . We were told to expect to stay in Toronto for roughly three months.”

Of course, it’s too early to get too excited because a lot can happen between now and then. But after a few months of treading water, there just may be a reason for hope.

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

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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.

Time is everything. This is why we promise registering as an organ donor should only #TakeTwoMinutes. That’s faster than microwave popcorn! #Register2Give

Ferris soon to turn 5 and would love a kidney for her birthday . . . She wakes up most days asking, ‘What we gonna do today, Mommy?’

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Early in 2022, Ferris Backmeyer will turn five years of age.

She will have been on dialysis for almost four of those years.

Yes, she is in dire need of a kidney transplant. Ferris, who lives in Kamloops with her family, actually underwent a transplant early this year, but there were immediate difficulties and the ‘new’ kidney had to be removed.

“She’s spent the last 3.5 years living life on dialysis and the only hope we have for her to have better days is for her to have a successful kidney transplant,” her mother, Lindsey, wrote on Facebook this week. “Ferris has a lot of things stacked up against her, but we remain hopeful that there’s a kidney out there that will fit and work perfectly for her.”

Ferris
If you didn’t know her, you might think that Ferris Backmeyer is a happy, healthy youngster who loves to be outdoors. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)

It is incredibly hard to fathom a youngster soon to turn five who really has known nothing but dialysis for almost her entire life. She is hooked up to a cycler every single night, with the machine doing what healthy kidneys would do. Every single night. Think about that for a moment or two. Every single night.

“She has had a bit of a rough fall,” Lindsey wrote, “but somehow is still thriving developmentally. If you were to come and spend the afternoon playing with her or have been at the pool with us . . . you’d have no idea that she faces enormous battles every single day. That she wakes up violently ill every single morning, or that she’s already needed bloodwork drawn three times this month, is needing weekly Aranesp injections and then throw in the obligatory flu shot! She’s had a juicy cough since September and as of late has been really anemic. Not to mention what little growth we were seeing comes to a complete stop anytime she’s sick. It’s all feeling a little extra and fragile and shoe in mid-air about to drop!”

Being the parent of a child with Ferris’s health issues is like being on a roller-coaster, only you’re on the ride every single day.

“Our sweet girl . . . I look at her and it’s just impossible to find the right words to explain how things have been going,” Lindsey wrote. “Some days I feel like we are slaying it and, all in a moment it seems, completely overwhelmed.

“Our experience would sound unbelievable and incredibly dramatic. It’s unbelievable to me most of the time and I’m living it.”

What it means is that the family calendar is dominated by medical appointments of one kind or another.

“We had a stretch of weeks where we had some sort of appointment every single weekday. For weeks! The management of all things Ferris is no joke,” Lindsey added. “There’s the medical side where we’ve got this girl who is so fragile and requires intensive daily medical treatment with hopes of being transplanted and desperately trying to stay well enough to continue living our lives at home in Kamloops.”

Through it all, Lindsey and her husband, Pat, can’t lose sight of the fact that Ferris is excited about going to school next fall, just like her big sisters — Tavia and Ksenia. With Ferris, however, going to school isn’t as simple as showing up and dropping her off.

“There’s also all the therapies involved in having a kiddo like Ferris,” Lindsey explained. “She’s turning five in January which means school next September! There are a lot of people involved in helping us ensure she will be supported.

“Kidney disease has a hold on her so tight, but she also has significant visual disability as well as significant hearing loss. Both impact her life in huge ways. My hope is things stay calm enough that she gets to go to school like we are planning for. Better yet . . . a successful kidney transplant before then and her experience of school will be completely different.

“My heart is truly bursting with pride as I watch Ferris grow into the preschooler that she is! She loves to play!! She is so strongly influenced by her sisters and is sooooo sassy!! She loves going to school. She is so eager to go even with the roughest of dialysis hangovers.”

Oh my, this girl is one tough cookie. She really is.

“She teaches me big lessons about life, humanity, suffering,” Lindsey wrote. “She is a bright, shiny light of resilience and oblivion. She wouldn’t say she has a hard life at all. There’s so many things that she loves, and she wakes up most days asking, ‘What we gonna do today, Mommy?’ ”

In an earlier Facebook post, Lindsey summed up life with Ferris on one paragraph:

“She’s sick. You wouldn’t know it because she is amazingly resilient, but she deserves better than this. Gagging, wretching and vomiting every morning is normal once again for her. Her growth is incredibly poor. Her bone health is suffering. She doesn’t have the stamina to walk more than a block and relies on her stroller or being carried a lot of the time. She’s such a happy kid, though, and once she gets to know you or if she likes you, she’s hilarious . . . and smart and has a tonne of personality! She plays hard once she finds her feet each day. She wouldn’t say she has a bad life at all. I could very selfishly keep her like this forever if that were an option. If I knew she could live a long life like this . . . I’d very selfishly not list her and not do scary things. We love her so much and she deserves to experience life after a successful kidney transplant.”

Ferris now is on the deceased donor list and the national sensitivity donor list. Lindsey is hopeful that even more prospective donors will see her post on Facebook and that they will “flood the inbox of St. Paul’s living donor program. We are so grateful for every single person who has tried to help change her life. She deserves so much better than this and she doesn’t even know it.”

——

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.

www.transplant.bc.ca/health-info/organ-donation/living-donation

——

The amazingly horrendous weather that parts of B.C. have experienced — and will see again this weekend — have led to all kinds of difficulties involving travel. For example, highways that had been reopened earlier this week will shut down on the weekend in anticipation of more wet weather that is expected.

This is especially hard on people with medical needs that have to be dealt with in Vancouver.

The Backmeyers are included in that group.

They were to have been at B.C. Children’s Hospital this week but the weather got in the way. They now are scheduled to be there early next month, but getting there might be a bit difficult unless they can fly.

The same holds true for John Casey of Kamloops, who had a kidney transplant at Vancouver General Hospital on May 31. He has an appointment there early in December and, with the highways closed, has gone ahead and made airline reservations.

John and his wife, Marlene, were regulars with the Kamloops Kidney Support Group before the pandemic brought things to a screeching halt. So was Vic Morin, who can be seen driving around Kamloops with a sign in the back window of his car pointing out that he needs a kidney.

Vic1
Vic Morin has been driving around Kamloops in the hopes of finding a kidney donor.
Zach2
Zach Tremblay of Robson, B.C., is 17 now, but one thing hasn’t changed — he still needs a kidney. Can you help?

Whenever my wife, Dorothy, is asked about her kidney transplant, she is quick to talk about the paired donor exchange program. It turns out that she isn’t alone. . . . Paulette Talerico of Golden, B.C., donated a kidney to a nephew, Pierre Pelletier of Vancouver, in August. These days, as Claire Palmer of the Golden Star reported, Paulette is encouraging others to become live donors. . . . “Hopefully more people will now because I didn’t realize how many people are actually in need of a kidney, it’s just unbelievable,” Paulette said. “I just want people to know that it’s not hard and it’s very rewarding — you could save someone’s life.” . . . Palmer’s story is right here.

While adding Paulette Talerico to my list of heroines, I also added Kennedie Maidment, a critical care nurse at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. Her father, Tony, had a liver transplant a while back and Kennedie has long spoken out about her support of organ donation and transplantation. . . . Late last month, Kennedie tweeted this . . .

Want an easy win to feel great? Register to be an organ donor today. It will only #TakeTwoMinutes and you could save a life. Great deed and fuzzy feels without any hassle. #Register2Give taketwominutes.ca