A Martensville hockey team is coming together to help a local family in need this holiday season. On January 2nd, families from the Martensville Initiation Sharks will be going door to door in Martensville for a bottle drive, with proceeds going to the Kortmeyer family.
On September 24th, after working out at the gym, Bobby Kortmeyer began to experience chest pains, along with shortness of breath. Having some concerns, Bobby decided to visit his doctor, who could not see anything obviously wrong, but decided to do an x-ray of his chest. The results showed a large black mass above Bobby’s heart, and he was immediately rushed to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.
At this point, it was still unknown exactly what the problem was. After other testing, the Kortmeyer family was told devastating news. The black mass was a 6 inch tumor that had manifested itself around his aorta and other areas of the heart and lungs, making it impossible to operate on. After three biopsies, it was determined to be Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. At only 38 years old and the father of four young children, Bobby is currently unable to work as he receives treatment to work at shrinking the tumor.
Each year, the Initiation Sharks hold a team fundraiser, which they decided this year will be used to help ease the financial burden that the family is currently facing. “For the bottle drive, we are hoping to hit all homes in Martensville, which depends on the weather. Our goal is to raise as much money as we can to help this family out,” Chantelle Higgins, a mother of one of the players, explained.
“When we found out what was happening, Bobby was already undergoing treatment and as a team, we all knew that we wanted to do something to help. It is a really tough situation, and any kind of support can go a long way,” Higgins added.
Those that wish to contribute can also visit any SARCAN location in Saskatchewan and use the code ‘Martensville Initiation Sharks’ at the Drop n Go station to contribute to this cause.
For those that wish to have someone come by and pick up bottles, you can contact Higgins directly at (306) 261-6691 or cmhiggins@hotmail.ca.
There is also a gofundme page set up to help the family, which can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/e4tyn-hodgkin-lymphoma?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet
