A seven-year-old girl stood on her seat and bounced up and down with joy on Sunday, when she realized she was once again on the big screen at a Winnipeg Jets game.
Alyx Delaloye, who has cancer, wore a pink T-shirt with a super-hero style ‘Alyx’ logo on the front and held up a homemade sign that read ‘Thank You Everyone.’
Alyx was expressing gratitude after a radio station organized a fundraiser that brought in more than $17,000 this past week to help out her struggling family.
Later in the game, Alyx ran up and hugged Mick E. Moose, the Jets’ mascot.
She also hugged Keaton Hamin, 9, who gave her the signed stick he had received earlier in the game from defenceman Tyler Myers.
Sunday afternoon’s game against the L.A. Kings was the second time the young girl had thousands at the MTS Centre cheering for her.
Alyx became famous around Winnipeg after her appearance at a Jets’ game last Tuesday, where she had held up a handmade sign that read "Chemo by day, Jets by night." She received a standing ovation from fellow fans, along with a stick-tapping salute from the players.
After that game, Alyx’s mother Jody Delaloye told a local radio station that she hadn’t been able to work since finding out in July that her daughter had cancer. Much of the family’s time has been spent driving back and forth to a hospital in Winnipeg, from their hometown in Neepawa, Man., more than two hours away.
“We’ve had a pretty rough few months,” Jody Delaloye told Virgin Radio. “You just never think your kid will be the one with cancer.”
After winning tickets to last week’s Jets game against the Dallas Stars, Jody thought Alyx wouldn’t be allowed to go, because complications from her cancer have left her with low immunity. Her doctors, however, decided it was safe so long as Alyx washed her hands frequently.
“And she had to, because she was getting a lot of high fives,” Jody said. “Everyone was telling her, ‘You’re famous. We saw you on the Jumbotron.’”
Many of those high fives and fist bumps came from Jets players, who Alyx and her 9-year-old brother got to meet both nights in the team’s dressing room.
Both kids were all smiles as they posed for photos on Sunday with nearly the whole team sporting “Super Alyx” T-shirts.
And Sunday’s score gave them another reason to smile: Alyx’s favourite team beat L.A. 5-2.
