Lacombe’s Jason Lunn doesn’t remember much about the incident that left him paralyzed, but he remembers everything about dancing with his daughter at her graduation six years later.
“I told my wife that I was going to make my family’s life as normal as possible,” he says, and that included the father-daughter dance at grad. So he bought a sit-stand wheelchair and designed a platform on the front where his daughter Cadence could stand. On her big night, Jason revealed the surprise.
“All the dads were starting to walk to the floor, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be hard, watching everybody else dance with their dads,’” Cadence says. “And then all of a sudden my dad rolls up in his wheelchair and stands right up. I stood on there and we danced. There were not very many dry eyes — especially me!”
When Jason’s vehicle was hit from behind on a cold January day in 2011 he needed fast medical attention in a specialized trauma centre, so local first responders called STARS. As they do an average of five times a day across Alberta, STARS quickly transported Jason in a flying intensive-care unit, increasing his chances of survival and recovery.
“All I know is that I’m thankful STARS landed that day to give me a ride,” Jason says.
Alongside the rest of the healthcare system fighting COVID-19, STARS is seeing a surge in patients requiring urgent medical care, making this year’s STARS Lottery more important than ever.
“When someone buys a STARS lottery ticket, they help ensure STARS is available for the next patient who needs us,” says STARS president and CEO Andrea Robertson.
STARS Lottery early bird deadline Feb. 25
“The STARS Lottery is our largest fundraiser of the year. It brings in enough to fund the operations of an entire base for a year — and we have three bases in Alberta. It’s more important than ever with so many in-person fundraising events being cancelled or postponed during this pandemic,” says Deborah Tetley from STARS. “We remain mission-ready at all of our six bases across Western Canada, and our air medical crews routinely care for patients who may be afflicted with a range of communicable diseases, including COVID-19.”
Tickets are selling fast, and to be eligible for the Early Bird prize tickets must be purchased no later than Feb. 25.
- 2,500 prizes worth more than $4.8 million
- Early Bird Prize is an Okanagan dream home away from home worth over $1 million
- Lucky STARS 50/50 payout is already over $2.5 million, and could be the biggest ever
“We really want to thank our supporters who continue to be there for us and our patients. It is because of them that we can bring our flying intensive care units to people having what could be the worst day of their life.”
Learn more at starslottery.ca or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
