Tigers suit up for a cause

By Ryan McCracken on March 1, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers are set to suit up — Don Cherry style.

It’s been nearly 10 years since the Tabbies last pulled a third jersey over their shoulders, but with the Western Hockey League Suits Up with Don Cherry promotion, they’ll be rocking a distinctive orange plaid suit-style uniform on Saturday at Canalta Centre against the Red Deer Rebels

The promotion is an effort to raise funds for the Kidney Foundation of Canada and encourage organ donation.

“It’s pretty fancy,” said Tigers captain Mark Rassell, who got to try on the first themed uniform in his team’s history last week. “It’s a cool night and the whole league is doing it. Obviously with our colour scheme our jerseys are real nice.”

The motive behind the promotion holds a close place in the Cherry family’s hearts. While Cherry was coaching the Boston Bruins in 1979, his son Tim fell seriously ill and was placed on dialysis. Desperately needing a kidney donor, his sister Cindy stepped up to the plate.

“He was going into dialysis about three times a week. My mother, holy smokes, she’s driving to Boston downtown (Massachusetts General Hospital) early in the morning three times a week. We just couldn’t go on like that, so we had all the tests, my mom, dad and I, and I was a perfect match,” said Cindy. “He’s thriving now. It’s 40 years now next year. He’s doing well, he scouts for the OHL.”

The importance of organ donation is felt across the globe, but on Saturday the Tigers will shift their spotlight to two of Medicine Hat’s own in18-year-old Cassidy Creasy and her mother Sandy — who donated a kidney to Cassidy three years ago.

After fighting E. coli at the age of seven, Cassidy advanced into adolescence with just 30 per cent kidney function. She was able to make it roughly seven more years with that 30 per cent, but before she turned 15, Cassidy ultimately needed a donor in order to pursue a normal teenage life and avoid regular dialysis appointments. That’s when her mother came to the rescue.

“It started with a simple blood test. Then they do tissue matching and then more thorough testing to see if you’re healthy enough to live with one kidney,” said Sandy, adding her daughter has been thriving ever since. “She’s doing good. She’s a first-year engineering student at U of C. If for some reason I wasn’t a candidate for transplant or no one else was, while she was on the waiting list she’d have to be on dialysis three days a week.”

Cases like these are inspiring, but Cindy insists stepping up to save a life can be done without having to go under the knife. Less than 20 per cent of Canadians have registered as organ donors — something that can be done in just a few minutes at myhealth.alberta.ca—but a single donor can save up to eight lives and benefit as many as 75 people, according to the Canadian Transplant Society.

“When you hear those stats you just can’t believe it. I thought if any part of our culture here in Canada could pull together for this it would be the backbone of Canadian hockey fans,” said Cindy. “Go online so if anything happens to you, you can still donate your organs. That’s important. It’s awareness more than anything. So if you start talking to your family, ‘what about this, what about that?’ It just gets the dialogue going.”

As far as the theme of the event, Cindy says her father’s famous collection of suits were hard to avoid while growing up in the Cherry household.

“His closets are busting out at the seams. I used to live in a pretty big home and he would bring his suits over here but now I’m in a small condo so now I don’t know where he’s putting his suits,” she said. “He might give a few away to charity, but most he hangs onto. He doesn’t have a storage unit or anything for them so I can’t imagine where he puts his T-shirts and other stuff with all the suits he’s got.”

All of Saturday’s game worn jerseys, including those of injured players like Mason Shaw, will be auctioned off in live and silent auctions throughout the game — offering fans in attendance the chance to take home a unique part of Tigers history while contributing to the Southern Alberta Kidney Foundation. What’s more, all fans will receive a free limited edition Don Cherry trading card, while 1,000 will take home a special edition Don Cherry bobblehead.

“I think it’s important for people to consider organ donation,” said Sandy. “Whether or not you’re able to do it as a living donor, but it’s definitely something you could do once you’re gone.”

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