Lift for Wills | Fundraiser and Silent Auction

As some of you may know, sadly, 9 year old Wills Hodgkinson has suffered a relapse of his condition.Join us on Sunday, January 19th for a day long fundraiser and silent auction with 100% of the proceeds going to Wills and his family. Details: All World Gym Penticton instructors and coaches have volunteered their time to lead a variety of fitness classes every hour. There is something for everyone, including a kids (age 7-10 class). Classes start at 8am with the last class beginning at 5pm. All classes are by drop-in donation. The class schedule will be posted this week. In addition to classes, there will be a silent auction and Gusto Ferrari will open their doors selling pizza by the slice. If you can’t make a class, come by – bid on auction items or have a pizza lunch. ** If you have an item you’d like to donate to the silent auction, please contact us through this event, or on messenger. You can also drop off items at World Gym Penticton.Update from the Family:This news was unexpected. He had was finally getting back to a daily routine following the disruption of last year and, ironically, the news came on the 1 yr anniversary of the end of his original treatment.We are back at Vancouver Children’s Hospital/ Ronald McDonald House and have been told to prepare for a prolonged stay.Wills has already been through further testing providing better insight into the nature of his relapse. Unfortunately, scans indicate that there are two large tumors effecting the left lung in the same position as earlier tumors. However, MRI testing has indicated that his abdomen and lymph nodes are clear of any cancerous tissue at this time.As far as treatment is concerned, he underwent surgery on Friday 20th December to remove the smaller tumor and a biopsy is being conducted to provide insight into how aggressive the cancer is and the extent of his fight ahead. Results of that should be back on the 23rd of December (or Christmas Eve itself) but ultimately Chemotherapy will reveal how treatable the cancer is and those results will come at the end of February.Chemotherapy began on December 30th and we have been advised that it will be far more intense than previously. As the ‘regime’ will considerably deplete his bone marrow Wills will undergo “Stem Cell Infusion” to boost his immune system. However, if the biopsy identifies a different type of cancer the current plan will likely change. As for Wills himself, he is in good spirits for the most part, as most of you who know him would expect and we remain hopeful of a positive outcome despite the considerable challenges ahead.Naturally, we have been forced to ‘drop everything’ once again in order to be with our son through this latest ordeal and a “fighting fund” has been started to try to support all efforts: both medical and domestic. This includes the possibility of using breakthrough technology, now available in the United States, which is expensive and right now is financially beyond our reach.Donations would be very, very gratefully accepted at this time and we would like to thank anyone who feels they can help in whatever way, large or small at this difficult time.