VANCOUVER - A small rock group from Chilliwack, British Columbia has thrown down a big challenge to one of Canada's top bands.
Pardon My Striptease, a young band from Chilliwack, B.C., wants Canadian recording artists Nickelback to match donations to the province's children's hospital if the song "Pray (For LJ)" surpasses the veterans' "When We Stand Together" on the ITunes top 10 rock chart.
Pray is dedicated to one-year-old Lilee-Jean Putt who is battling brain cancer at BC Children's Hospital and is the only daughter of Pardon My Striptease's lead singer Andrew Putt, 24, and his partner Chelsey Whittle, 24.
The Fraser Valley band is dedicating the money it raises from the single's sale to the hospital.
Putt said the band originally wanted to give him and Chelsey 50 per cent of the proceeds but then everybody decided to give all money raised from the sale of the song to the hospital.
"Just because of how much they've done for us and for Lilee and seeing all the similar stories there," said Putt. "And I mean mainly because it's kids, you know, that's really close to our hearts. And so they've made it easy as it can be on me and Chelsey, and we really need to help other families have that same experience in there."
Putt said the lives of he and his partner have been made a lot easier thanks to the hard work of a social worker at the hospital.
That social worker has arranged almost everything, said Putt, including parking, hotel bookings, support programs, transportation, and counselling, allowing he and Chelsey to focus on Lilee-Jean.
"But that costs a lot of money to be able to do that kind of stuff so they need that funding from somewhere and I think a lot of it is just from donations," he said.
As of Thursday, "Pray" and "When We Stand Together" were battling for top spot on the ITunes top 10 rock chart.
The ITunes website listed the Nickelback tune in No. 1 spot, but Brendan Woodroff, guitarist and backing vocals for Pardon My Striptease, said "Pray" had taken top spot and provided an image as support.
Nickelback or a spokesman for the band was not available for comment by publication.
"We issued the challenge back when we were third on the ITunes Canada Top 10 Rock chart and as of this morning we have passed them for first place," said Woodroff, in an email to The Canadian Press. "We are also fifth on the All Music ITunes Canada chart."
Putt said "Pray" was recorded about three months ago and was released at the beginning of the month when Lilee-Jean turned one.
He said his daughter was diagnosed in October, after he and Whittle took her to a clinic because she was tilting her head to the left a lot.
One day later, on Oct. 13, Lilee-Jean was sent for a biopsy of a glioblastoma tumour at BC Children's Hospital, said Putt.
Since his daughter's diagnosis, Putt and Whittle have been taking time off work and calling the hospital home.
"To be cliche, it's life changing," he said. "You know, now our lives are that hospital. Our home is that hospital with her, and our job is taking care of her and keeping her comfortable. It's just changed every aspect of our life."
Putt said it's tough to give a prognosis for his daughter, noting the family is still waiting to hear how chemotherapy has gone.
"Friday is a big day," he said. "She has a MRI to see what the chemo has been doing, if it's stopped it (the tumour) growing, if it's worked at all, if it's maybe shrunk it would be the best news we could get and then she would go into more surgery if it's shrunken enough."
Putt said the band doesn't plan any big shows in the immediate future but has played "Pray" for one Metro Vancouver TV station, and he has thanked everybody who has thought about or prayed for Lilee-Jean.
