Boy fighting leukemia meets hockey hero, escapes cancer fight for night

Azen Lavallee's smile hasn't left his face in four days and it's a boyish grin that belies the grown-up hardships he has had to endure.

The nine-year-old from southern Manitoba was diagnosed with leukemia last Christmas and his mom, Melissa, says it's been a rough road.

"Ever since, we've been in and out of the hospital for chemo treatments, blood transfusions, platelet transfusions. You name it, he's been through it," she said.

To help take his mind off the troubles, Azen was given tickets to the game on Nov. 27 by a family friend.

That led to a chance encounter with a stranger, another game and to meeting his hockey hero.

While standing outside the MTS Centre before that Nov. 27 game, a man noticed a sign held by Azen: "Chemo by day, Jets by night."

The sign echoed that of seven-year-old girl, Alyx Delaloyle, who was also fighting leukemia when she attended a game in February 2015.

Her sign caught the attention of the team and was shown on the Jumbotron. Social media exploded in support for the little girl, with people posting messages wishing her good luck, and the Jets treated her to another game with seats not far from the glass.

Following that game, nine-year-old Keaton Hamin was given a signed souvenir team stick (Jets tradition is for a player named one of the game's stars to hand out a stick).

Hamin immediately went to Delaloyle's seat and gave it to her.

Fast forward to the Nov. 27 game that Lavallee was at — the man who spotted the little boy's sign was Ken Hamin, Keaton's dad.

"When I was a kid and I got a stick or a puck from the Jets, I never forgot it. So I just wanted to pay that forward," Ken Hamin said.

Hamin gave the Lavallee family four tickets to sit right behind the Jets bench at the Nov. 29 game.

"The little guy had the sign and I recognized the sign," he said. "I used to work in the hospital in Saskatoon and saw lots of cancer and kids with cancer so it has a soft spot with me. It was meant to be."

Tuesday's game ended in a 3-2 win by the Jets over the visiting New Jersey Devils, with Lavallee's hero, captain Blake Wheeler, notching one of the goals.

The win and Wheeler's goal were reason for Lavallee to smile, but what happened next has pasted that smile on permanently.

Wheeler brought the signed souvenir stick to the beaming boy and then gave him a puck as well.

"Thank you isn't enough in my eyes," Melissa Lavallee said about what the gesture from Hamin meant to her son.

"He got to be a little boy again."