In late October Logan Sikiric and his family got life-changing news.
Logan, 22, was diagnosed with leukaemia and flown down to Vancouver for immediate treatment with his mother Candace. His father, local contractor John Sikiric, said the news came as a shock to the entire family.
"He was diagnosed at the 100 Mile Hospital and had to be rushed down to the Vancouver General Hospital right away," Sikiric said. "My wife and Logan got shipped up to 108 and flew them down in an airplane within an hour to VGH. They hooked him up on chemo and all the machines, it was pretty sad."
While Logan is now on the path to recovery thanks to the chemotherapy, the leukaemia requires him to stay in Vancouver for at least the next 10 months while he receives treatment. This means the Sikiric family has had to find a place to rent in the Lower Mainland, with Sikiric noting rent is close to $6,000 a month.
To try and cover this cost the Sikirics have started a Go-Fund-Me titled Help Support Logan with his Fight Against Cancer to raise $60,000 which currently sits at $12,750 as of Wednesday, Nov. 27. Sikiric noted that after he's finished off some jobs he plans to join Candance and Logan down in Vancouver to be with him as much as he can during the road to recovery.
"He's supposed to be down there for nine months. First, they said two years but his chemo is doing really good so they have brought it down to nine months of treatment," Sikiric said. "We're trying to get by and keep the family together."
To get all the help they could Candace reached out to her friends and asked them for prayer. Several of these friends decided to offer more than prayers, however, and started organizing a series of fundraisers in Logan's name.
One of these friends is Ingrid Mapson who has been helping coordinate several of the events with their organizers. Mapson remarked she is deeply grateful that the community is helping such a closely knit family who just recently welcomed their first grandchild.
Pam Dafoe is organizing a spaghetti dinner in support of Logan on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 260. From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., she welcomes anyone looking to enjoy a spaghetti dinner to come and make a minimum donation of $20 a person. Mapson said the format of the dinner is drop-in and that all proceeds are going to Logan.
Anyone looking for more information or who would like to help out with the dinner can contact Dafoe at 250-397-0018 or pamdafoe@hotmail.com.
The 100 Mile House Curling Club, to which Logan has belonged for years, has also decided to step up and support his family. On Saturday, Dec. 7 the club is running a funspiel in Sikiric's name which costs $25 a person. Individuals will be put on different teams by the club and get a chance to play the game Logan loves so much.
Curling will get underway at 8 a.m. with teams curling at least twice together, though if there are enough teams they'll get three games in. All proceeds will go into the club's Compassionate Fund, which is used to support the club's members when medical emergencies, such as Logan's diagnosis, arise. Participants are also welcome to write notes of support for Logan which will be forwarded to his family after the funspiel.
Anyone interested in signing up for the funspiel can contact Suzanne Morin at 250-706-3556 or the 100 Mile Curling Club at 100milecurling@gmail.com.
"On behalf of my dear friends and this enthusiastic young man, I'd really like to thank people for rallying behind these people in great need," Mapson said.
One of the more ambitious efforts is Battles for Logan being organized by Cariboo Christain Life Fellowship member and longtime family friend Deanna Rich. Rich noted her children are very close with Logan and his siblings so when she heard about the family's troubles, she started thinking of ways to help out.
"It's hard enough these days just to make ends meet but to have a place here and have a place there, it's just hard," Rich said. "I think we want to rally around people in our community to help them and this is a family that's been in the community for a very long time."
A few days after she heard Logan would need to be down there for months, Rich said she happened to overhear her youngest son and husband discussing Nerf when the inspiration to host a Nerf battle for children struck. Rich and her family discussed the idea and found 24 small bunkers and four large bunkers, donated by community members, to create a battlefield for children to play on.
"We're going to have a series of organized matches, which I think the kids will find fun. We'll ask them how long they want to play, we'll do capture the flag and four corners capture the flag," Rich remarked. "I think kids like organized chaos."
The first Battles for Logan will be held on Dec. 6 at the old Buffalo Creek Elementary School Gymnasium starting at 6:30 p.m. Rich said she is limiting the first one to just 20 kids with admission costing $20 a child. Children are encouraged to bring their own Nerf guns, though Rich will have a small collection Nerf guns for those who don't have their own and will provide the ammunition for the toy weapons.
Eye protection will be mandatory and the age range for this inaugural Battles for Logan will be 10-13, though Rich remarked she is open to the idea of doing a night for teenagers or even adults in the future.
Rich said that she also decided to host Battles for Logan once a month so it can be an ongoing fundraising effort for Logan while he fights cancer. Assuming they have close to capacity each time they do so, that will be an extra $400 going to him every month to help pay for rent and other incidentals.
"It's twofold. It's a way to bless the kids in the community and we're doing this to help someone," Rich said. "For me, if I'm doing these battles, I'm thinking this person (Logan) is battling for their life and I'm here helping them and how cool is that?"
Rich said she will be accepting payment for Battles for Logan either through direct cash donation or with proof of donation to the Sikiric's Go-Fund-Me. Any cheque donations should be made out to Candace Sikiric, she noted. Anyone with questions about Battles for Logan can reach Rich via drich@stratagist.com or via text at 778-444-5063.
Sikiric said both Logan and the entire family appreciate everything the community is doing. He remarked Logan is watching everything happening in 100 Mile House via social media and wants to return home as soon as possible.
"It's amazing how people stick together up here, I just love it. It's great if they want to support us, every little thing helps," Sikiric said.
