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Mitch Marner makes birthday for young Leukemia patient one to remember
Mitch Marner connecting with young fans and embracing the platform that playing in the NHL provides for him seems to have become a near-weekly occurrence.
And it’s incredible.
Whether he’s signing hockey sticks for cancer survivors or setting ridiculous expectations for young girls on Valentine’s Day, the former London Knight has been using his stardom to make positive change. The fact that he’s only 21 and in his third season with the Toronto Maple Leafs can sometimes be difficult to wrap your mind around with the maturity he displays.
While his past gestures have been touching, they don’t compare to what he did for young Hayden Foulon. He made her seventh birthday a very special one by giving her family tickets to Toronto’s Saturday night clash with the Buffalo Sabres, a 5-2 win where he scored an empty netter.
On top of that, he surprised her with a nice treat following the buzzer.
#leafs Mitch Marner gave Hayden Foulon & her family tickets for her 7th birthday, then had 3 pts (1G, 2A) in 5-2 win over #sabres. He then surprised her with a cake afterward. Hayden has been battling leukaemia for most of her life. "She is my hero," Marner said. pic.twitter.com/HTKKizZgeR
— Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) March 3, 2019
Smart move, Mitch. Obviously no birthday is complete without some cake!
The connection between Marner and the Foulon family has been a strong one for many years now. They first met while Marner was still in the OHL during his tour of the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre in 2015, according to Mike Zeisberger of nhl.com.
Foulon was first diagnosed with Leukemia when she was just 22 months old and has essentially been fighting the disease ever since. Last spring she was declared cancer-free. Then, a follow-up test in July revealed that it was back.
Through the ups and downs in the last few years, Marner has been there and helped ease her pain in any way that he can. Gifts, tickets to games and plenty of support are just some of the things that he’s provided for Hayden and her family.
"I can't thank the Marner family enough for putting a smile on my daughter's face again." – Lindsay Foulon
How #leafs Mitch Marner and his family this week once again brightened the life of his pal Hayden Foulon, 6, who continues to battle cancer. https://t.co/8lWnjWFglw pic.twitter.com/UtHcCpd8Vn
— Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) January 25, 2019
“It’s special,” Marner said about having her at the game on Saturday. “We’ve been planning this for a while. She’s meant a lot to me. It’s something we’ve been trying to do for a while now, and it’s great that she could come down here and see the game, and that we could get that win.”
It goes further than that, though.
“She’s my hero,” he said about her to Zeisberger in November.
Whether he’s making incredible passes on the ice or assisting the lives of many people off of it, Marner continues to find ways to blow us away.
The world is a better place because Mitch and Hayden met.
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