Inspired by youngsters fighting cancer

By MORRIS DALLA COSTA, The London Free Press

Last Updated: July 12, 2012 9:15pm

When Brandon Prust was a London Knight he made a regular habit of visiting Children's Hospital of Western Ontario.
During one of those visits, he met a young lad named Liam, who was fighting cancer. Prust always liked a good fight. The meeting changed Prust's life.

Brandon Prust gets a high-five from friend and cancer survivor Liam Hepburn, the kind of child the NHL player hopes to help with his Prusty4Kids golf tournament. (MIKE HENSEN, The London Free Press)

After a two-year battle with the disease, Liam only has to go back to the hospital for regular checkups.
But now that Prust is making a living in the National Hockey League, he hopes to make a difference to the hospital and the kids who have to use it.
Prust is holding Prusty4Kids, a charity golf tournament at Redtail Golf Course on Aug. 2, hoping to raise $100,000 and establish a program to help kids with their cancer treatment.
"I've done stuff with Children's Hospital since I've been with the Knights," Prust said. "I met Liam when I was with the Knights on hospital visits and we became close. I'm still close to him and his family. It's always been an inspiration to me to go in a see these kids."
Liam was seven when his parents brought him to the Children's Hospital Emergency centre with what they thought was a dental abscess. A bone marrow biopsy confirmed that Liam had cancer, T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer which needed to be treated quickly and aggressively.
But like Prust, Liam never quit enduring the difficult times during his treatments because of numerous complications. In July 2011, Liam had his last treatment and is now back at school with his friends.
Meeting Liam gave Prust the direction he needed in giving back to his community when he had the opportunity to do so.
"We wanted this tournament to be something special," Prust said.
On Aug. 2, 60 golfers will participate in the inaugural Prusty4Kids event. The money will be dedicated to establish a program called Kids Kicking Cancer, the first of its kind in Canada.
The non-profit organization Kids Kicking Cancer helps children with cancer to manage the stress and pain of their disease with treatments through personalized coaching by black belt martial artists. These children achieve power, peace and purpose by learning deep breathing techniques and eventually teaching them to others. It also increases self-confidence in kids who have gone through some terrible times.
"We wanted to do something different, establish something that was the first of its kind," Prust said. "It's been very successful in the States."
The foursomes are complete and include NHL players like Brad Richards, Todd Bertuzzi, Michael Del Zotto, Henrik Lundquist and others.
But Prust is still looking for donations and sponsors, including a premier sponsor.