His Journey with Cancer

Congratulations to this years NHL Alumni Ace Bailey Award for Courage our man Earl!!!!!

Darby and I (along with 26 others) were there to accept the award for him. It was a grand event, but could never compare to the grandness of Heaven.

2011-03-17

What"s New????

We had such a great time in Minneapolis....I can't begin to tell you! We headed out on Friday and we were all very excited...to be on our road trip. We went with our good friends Bruce and Debbie Tervoort and their daughter, Brittany and her boyfriend Keith. We all had a little surprise for Earl, in that Brittany had convinced us that we should buy tickets to the Anaheim vs Wild game that night. We didn't tell Earl until we were almost in Minnie, that we weren't actually going to hotel first. He was so excited he was close to tears. Oh how we all love a good surprise. After we told him the plan I showed him an email from Andreas Lilja, his friend who plays for Anaheim, telling us he had passes for us to go down after the game....it was awesome. Not only did we get a chance to visit with Lils, but we met Teemu Selani, former Winnipeg Jet and hockey great, but we met Jason Blake and Saku Koivu who are players who have also survived cancer. Earl was so excited to meet them and let them know how they inspired him.

We spent to next day shopping and shopping and did I say shopping!!! On Sunday we headed of to the Excel Energy Center to see our Boys the Red Wings play against the Wild. We arrived early, because we had a date with CBC TV's Reg Sherren and producer Terry and cameraman Warren. Yes Earl had his very own crew....! We headed down to the dressing room before the game and let's just say it was so much fun and Earl was so in his "Happy Place" If you get a chance to watch Earl's documentary you will get a very good first hand look at Earl hanging with the team. The Wings won and we were excited because Todd Bertuzzi got his 1000th goal. Yeah Todd. After the game we headed down to the dressing room and continued recording our experience.

Since that weekend we had another little trip as we headed out to Leduc Alberta so that Earl could participate in his very first Sledge Hockey Tournament. He played four games as goalie for the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers, slating 2 shutouts and only allowing 2 goals. The team was a great bunch and welcomed Earl with a great team spirit. Earl was just bursting with excitement as they won all four games and were presented with the Gold medal.

Earl's documentary can be seen on CBC's "The National" on Friday March 18th at 10:pm and heard on CBC's "The Current" on Friday morning after the 8:30 traffic report.

Next week we head out to Detroit to watch a few games and hang out with family, friends and the team.

Take care,
Debbie

2 comments:

Grant Arbuckle said...

Hello Earl

First heard about you through my brother in law Mike Ashley who is involved with the Twins and then again this morning on CBC Radio, "The Current". Wanted to let you know that through your words and actions and those of your family friends and mentors you have inspied many people to "Battle Hard" against their own personal issues. Good luck to you in your passionate pursuit of health and hockey.

Anonymous said...

Just want to say Hi Earl. Watched you on the National last night and talked to many of my friends about you today. I want to wish you all the best in your journey. Many blessing as you conquer cancer and many wins in Hockey. You are a good person and thank you for being who you are. Take care and my prayers are with you. Michel

Getting to know Earl

Getting to know Earl
Earl and the Kickers

Earl's Trip To Minnie

Earl's Trip To Minnie

Checking out the New Guys

Checking out the New Guys
Earl and Paul Lapolice

Earl Cook

planning block

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