It was quite a night at Ball Arena as I joined Gina Finney on Hockey Fights Cancer night. I met the Finney’s almost three years ago as Gina’s husband, Andy, was battling pancreatic cancer. Andy sadly lost that battle on December 31, 2020, and tonight we celebrated Andy while urging so many others to keep up the fight. One of those was Sarah Karr, who I had the immense pleasure of nominating to take the ice for warmups. Lots of memories from the evening with one of those being Sarah and Gina meeting and sharing their respective emotional journeys. The night wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Quincy Rohrbach. Quincy is a beautiful young lady battling a rare form of bone cancer that has spread to her lungs. She is an absolute warrior and was hoping to be in attendance tonight but unfortunately some challenges have her back in the hospital. I thought about Quincy all night and made sure she was included as best I could.
Finally, as the night wound down I was surrounded by amazing souls that have been handed difficult paths and still face every day with a positive attitude. As we chatted a young lady came to our table and commented to me, “that is the best jersey I’ve ever seen. I survived two types of cancer as a child and that jersey represents both!” Well that was all I needed to hear and peeled off my favorite jersey and put it on Nikki. as she deserved it way more than me!
Here’s to all the individuals and families that have been impacted by the “C” word. And here’s to all the fighters out there. Never give up! 
