Skip to content

Hockey community stands on its head to support Shuswap girl with cancer

#handstandforhalle asks people to do a handstand on video to draw supporters to gofundme campaign
23596674_web1_copy_201216-SAA-Mitch-Carefoot-handstand
Mitch Carefoot of Kelowna, close friend of Kyle Blanleil, does a handstand for Halle Krawczyk as part of their #handstandforhalle fundraising campaign to raise money to support the Krawczyk family of Salmon Arm because their daughter, 12-year-old Halle, must go to Pittsburgh for life-saving surgeries from a rare spinal cancer. (#handstandforhalle Facebook video)

The hockey community, among others, is upside down with enthusiasm about a fundraiser for the Krawczyk family in Salmon Arm.

The #handstandforhalle campaign launched by chordoma spine cancer survivor Kyle Blanleil, former Salmon Arm Silverback Mitch Carefoot and their friends is drawing support from NHL and Junior A teams alike.

Among the donors are the owners of the Silverbacks who have donated $10,000.

The funds go to help 12-year-old Halle Krawczyk go to Pittsburgh, likely for six months, to undergo three surgeries to remove rapidly growing tumours from her top two vertebrae and behind her nose. The tumours are from a rare, one-in-20-million cancer called ‘poorly differentiated chordoma,’ similar to what Blanleil suffered from.

Read more: Man who faced terminal prognosis offers hope to 12-year-old Salmon Arm girl

Blanleil was told when he was 19 that he had five years to live, four of them in a wheelchair but, thanks to a life-saving surgery, he’s 35 now, healthy and cancer-free.

See some great handstand attempts at #handstandforhalle videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Along with being fun to watch, they lead to the Help for Halle gofundme page.

Read more: Parents thrilled over decision on surgery funding for Salmon Arm girl with rare cancer

Read more: Salmon Arm cancer survivor plunges into Christmas craft making to fund another girl’s surgery



marthawickett@saobserver.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter


Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
Read more