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 
three 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.
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.
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.
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
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
TAKING NOTE 