DEFINITELY my best ever show and tell....

[Krazykanuk]

Almost two years ago my wife gave birth to our second child, a son (already had a wonderful daughter). As soon as the little guy came out it was obvious something was wrong. Luckily the promblems were more superficial than anything. It turns out he had a horribly shaped head and his jaw and eyes were out of alignment.

After four months of the doctors saying nothing was wrong we decided to put some pressure on them. We are extremely lucky to live in Toronto in close proximity to Sick Kids so we managed to get an appointment with one of the finest children's doctors in Canada.

It was determined that he needed a helmet that he would have to wear 23 1/2 hours a day. He could only take off to bathe. These helmets are not covered by insurance and let's just say it cost more than any hockey card I own!

Picture of my wife and th little guy on day one!



We decided if he was going to live in this thing, the medical white was NO good!

We found a local guy who paints goalie masks (Diablo Customs 289-200-3405 - great guy) and decided to do something really cool (well, from a sports fans perspective...lol...pictures in a moment.

Long story longer, he wore the helmet for about five months and we are very happy to have seen dramatic changes for the better.

We decided that given Dion Phaneuf was such a huge supporter of sick kids in Calgary that we would send a request to him and see if he would maybe sign the helmet. Almost a year had passed with no response, until I received an e-mail a couple weeks ago from MLSE saying Dion would be happy to sign it! Have to admit, despit being a grown adult who collects hockey cards, I was pretty excited.

We packaged up the helmet and sent it off.

Sure enough a few days later I get an e-mail again from MLSE asking if we would mind if the whole team sined it? Ummm, my response was obvious....and here are the final results!







Players who signed:

Colbourne
JVR
Franson
Fraser
Koulemin
Liles
O'Byrne
Komorov
Phaneuf
McClement
Scrivens
Gunnarsson
Kostka
Frattin
Bozak
Reimer
Hamilton
Grabovski
Gardiner

Must give props to all the promotional people at MLSE and the players for taking their time to make this a true collectors item for our little guy!

Now, lets win a round...lol.

[Krazykanuk]

Oh, here he is now in his NEW helmet!

[Reinhart]

That's really truly awesome! Great picture with you and your son on the ice

[AndrewZachary]

Perhaps your son has the 2013 Stanley Cup champs signed on his helmet. Very nice to see the Leafs do that for your son, Thanks for sharing.

[phildo37]

that is so very, very cool! not sure there's a better way to make the best of that situation!

[Jaded]

cool story

[doniceage]

Thanks for sharing the story as it a awesome one. Wish your son and family the best down the road.

Don

[TheBoxBreaker]

This is one of my favourite S&T threads on SCF! Amazing story and a great helmet for sure. Superb that the Maple Leafs agreed to sign it, and you're right... let's win a round! Go Leafs, go!

-Ethan

[Krazykanuk]

Appreciate the comments all.

All we can di is try and make the best of a bad situation, with my son and as a leaf fan...lol.

[JKadlitz]

Great story! I'd be happy to have the Houston Power sign any helmets in the future! Jen