It may have technically been St. Patrick’s Day, but lavender was the color of choice for an hour or so on Monday, March 17 in the Cancer Care Institute at Rapid City Hospital.
Four players and the head coach from ECHL Rapid City Rush professional hockey team, an affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames, donned purple jerseys, chatted with patients and posed for pictures in anticipation of the upcoming Rush Fights Cancer Game to be held this coming Saturday, March 22, against Wichita at The Monument Ice Arena.
Now in its 17th year, the game is a collaboration between the Rapid City Rush and Monument Health Foundation that benefits and honors local cancer patients and their families, while raising awareness of the vital services provided at CCI.
On hand Monday at CCI were Head Coach/General Manager Scott “Burtie” Burt, forwards Maurizio Colella, Ryan Wagner and Blake Bennett and defenseman Charles Martin.
It was especially meaningful for Coach Burt to be able to attend the event and to coach in Saturday’s forthcoming game, because he is fighting his own battle against a brain cancer called glioblastoma. Monument Health Neurosurgeon Thomas Fulbright, M.D., performed surgery to remove the tumor. His colleague, Oncologist Daniel Petereit, M.D., FASTRO, provided cancer care and helped Coach Burt to arrange further treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, from which Coach Burt only recently returned on February 14. He has been back on the bench to coach the last seven Rush games, as well. “It feels surreal, because I’m now a part of this deeper moment,” Coach Burt said of being at the CCI event. “Rather than just coming in, talking to people and sharing stories. But now I’m part of it, really. So it means more to me.”
In total, Ruch Fights Cancer has raised about $385,000 over 17 years. This year’s goal for Monument Health Foundation is to raise $30,000. “The event used to happen in February, and we decided to move it to March to honor Colon Cancer Awareness Month,” said Hans Nelson, Director, Monument Health Foundation. “We choose lavender as the color because it symbolizes all cancers. The National Hockey League does lavender night games in October as part of their own cancer campaign during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And so we replicated that and created our own personalized jerseys, to help raise more money.”
The Special Edition, lavender-colored Rush Fights Cancer jerseys are available at CCI for $50 each.
To purchase tickets to Rush Fights Cancer Night vs. Wichita: fevo-enterprise.com/EVENT/MONUMENTHEALTH2
Story: Kory Lanphear