There is a statistic in Casey Wright’s life that is mind-blowing, but definitely doesn’t define him.
It goes like this: 18 brain surgeries in 18 years.
Like I said, mind-blowing.
It would be tempting to just look at Wright as simply a battler who has been fighting cancer his entire life. That is true, but there is so much more to this teenager.
For one thing, he’s a graduating high school student looking forward to the next phase of his life. He’s also a tireless volunteer who inspires others to raise money for cancer research and programs.
He’s also utterly charming.
Wright spoke to a crowd at the Burnaby Hilton Saturday night during the annual Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society’s gala ball – and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
He gave his deep appreciation after a group of Burnaby firefighters showed up at his family’s home and painted the inside, as well as installing a new handrail on a staircase because Wright had had a stroke that affected one of his arms.
After Wright spoke, Jeff Clark of the firefighters society dropped another bit of good news for Wright and his family. The firefighters are going to be building Wright a new, totally accessible bathroom in the family’s home, including a walk-in bathtub.
That announcement sparked an ovation from the crowd. It also was followed by Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech coming to the microphone and say that his wife Ravi was so inspired that she would be donating whatever bathtub the project would be needing.
You could say it got a little dusty in the room. I'm quickly learning just how awesome Burnaby firefighters are when it comes to supporting people.
The gala ball raised a lot of money Saturday night. Look for a future post when the final totals are announced.
You can follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
