Charitable Casues

     This past week I had the opportunity to go to the NHL Alumni Luncheon for the Alzheimer's Face Off Tournament. One of the guys at work has played in this tournament for the last few years with a team in Leduc. I had never really looked in to this event much before attending the luncheon. The cost of the event does not really allow the average person to entertain attending. In fact my initial reaction to being asked to go was not excitement but almost disgust. Pay how much to spend a couple of hours with a bunch of over payed ex athletes? This did not make a lot of sense to me. 
     I had just finished reading "Relentless" which was written by a pro athlete trainer. This book looks at athletes from a different point of view. The author talks about the internal force that is inside of people who are always trying to be better than not only everyone else but themselves as well. He talks about them being relentless in their pursuit of excellence. With this knowledge, I set fourth to see and meet some individuals who were not set on some pedestal by society, but that were relentless enough in their careers to achieve some sort of greatness.
     At the luncheon every table of eight has an NHL alumni sitting at it. Sitting at our table was Steven Goertzen. Born in Stony Plain and now living in Spruce Grove and still active in hockey and training young hockey players.
     After the food was served the MC started to introduce the people that make this tournament happen. One of the people that came up to speak was medical researcher that talked about dementia. One of the things that was said really stuck with me. He made a comment that I had heard before but not with Alzheimer's or dementia but with Cancer. He made the point that everyone in the room at some point will either have or know someone suffering with dementia. Late Saturday afternoon I had some time and started to look in to some posted stats. In America one in nine people suffers from dementia. That's a little scarier than I would have thought so I kept looking. The next information that I had found seemed even worse. It said that one in three people that die over the age of 65 will have experienced some for of dementia in their lifetime. My outlook now has completely changed. If this information was correct, which came from a published  document from the Alzheimer's Association, then with two living parents and two living in-laws there is a good chance that this will have some impact on our family.
     This event, Alzheimer's Face Off, raised over $1,000,000 this year. I may not have another opportunity to attend the luncheon, but I will do whatever I can to help support the teams playing in the tournament. The realisation of the impact of this disease on not only my own families but others we know had completely changed my perception of the event and the charity that it supports.