Meet Joey Murray, he looks just like any other 9 year old kid. The only difference is that this kid has a special kind of perseverance. In 2013, at the very young age of 4, Joey was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Joey’s dad Scott, said it was hard to explain to a 4 year-old what cancer was. Joey was told he was very sick and needed to take medicine to get better.
With the Ingersoll family devastated over the cancer news to Joey, they get some more bad news. Doretta Murray, Joey’s mom, has to be hospitalized with a stress seizure, just one week after Joey’s diagnosis. Doretta goes into a medical coma, but eventually came out of it and was in recovery mode. Doretta ended up suffering from severe brain damage and tragically passed away thereafter. This comes less than a month after the Murray family got news of Joey’s cancer. Scott tries to explain this to Joey and his other two brothers, TJ and Riley, all the while dealing with long hospital days for Joey’s cancer.
Joey was hospitalized at Children’s Hospital at London Health Science Centre. The staff there described him as upbeat, energetic, and with a positive attitude, even when he wasn’t feeling the greatest. Scott says the staff there was great and the most rewarding thing the hospital gave the Murray family was compassion.
Joey is now a cancer survivor. He first experienced The London Lightning through their interaction with Ingersoll, and their yearly teacher versus student mental health day. Scott says The Lightning and Owner of team, Vito Frijia, found out that Joey was a cancer survivor and invited the Murray family to attend a game. Joey loves the experiences and catches a glimpse at Lightning mascot Flash. Joey wants to mimic Flash the mascot so much that he asked his dad for a morphsuit for his birthday. The kind of suit that Flash the mascot wears. The London Lightning hears about this and asks the family if Joey would consider becoming a mascot, and that’s how Flash Lite was originally born.
Now in his third season as Flash Lite, Joey is joined by both his brothers as part of the London Lightning team. Joey says he loves being a mascot because of all the fun things he gets to do with team.
Joey recently made a request with The Make-A-Wish Foundation and his dream was granted. His dream, to go to a Pittsburgh Steelers football game. The Murray family has always been connected to football with Scott being a football coach at the Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute. Joey loved the experience and not only did he attend, but he says he met some of his favourite players. “I met James Conner, Ben Rothlisburger, Antonio Brown and the whole team”, Joey recalls.
Joey with his custom Champion’s belt that his family made for him
Before today’s London Lightning game, Joey was crowned 2019 Champion Child presented by The Children’s Miracle Network and the London Children’s Hospital Foundation. The torch (in this case, The hammer of Thor) was passed down today by last year’s recipient, Hunter Fernyc, of Thunder Bay. Scott says Joey couldn’t have been a better fit to the Champion Child program. “Every year they select one of the ambassadors who has a compelling story and a great personality, and Joey fits the bill.”
For more information on Joey story and The Champion Child you can visit http://childhealth.ca/heroes/champion-child
