The Hopkins Hockey Family is very sad to share the news that Mite 4 Tucker Helstrom has been diagnosed with bone cancer.  What started as a sore leg from what the family thought was a accident on a slide, was then considered a fracture, but then was determined to be osteocarcoma, a tumor in his femur.  Luckily after that devastating news the family received the good news that it was caught early!   Although very rare (only 600 children a year in the U.S. get this diagnosis per year) it is very treatable! The plan is for ten months of chemo and a surgery to remove the tumorous bone in a few months.  By next fall we expect to see Tucker back out on the baseball field and at the rink as a healthy, happy fourth grader.

Tucker's sister Kayci is on our Mite 3 team and their youngest sister Siera is their equipment manager.  The girls will be missing their brother while he spends a considerable amount of time in the hospital.  However, Kayci will play hard on her team, Siera will cheer her on, and we hope to see Tucker at some Mite 4 games when he is feeling well enough to go.  

For those of you who wish to discuss this with your child(ren), click here for a great, concise resource to help you.

A Meal Train has been set up for the family, and can be accessed at this link. You can follow Tucker's progress as he beats this thing on his CaringBridge page.  A site to accept donations has also been established with YouCaring.

The family thanks you for your time; and thank you for your positive thoughts for Tucker, Kayci and Siera as they work hard and band together to fight this.