Blue Jays excitement sweeps up Assiniboia family in cancer fight

Concern about lung cancer was temporarily set aside by an Assiniboia family to soak in the excitement of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Blair Heagy, along with his wife Julianne and children Justine and Jared, had the experience of a lifetime at a Jays game at Rogers Centre in August.

It was a way to escape reality as Blair battles stage four lung cancer.

“We were looking forward to something positive,” Julianne Heagy told News Talk Radio’s MainStreet on Monday.

The original idea began with a trip to Ontario to meet with some of Blair’s family. Since Blair is a Blue Jays fan, catching a MLB game quickly got inserted into the plans but the price of the tickets along with other factors made the cost more than the family could afford.

After explaining their plans to a friend living in Toronto, he came back with some exciting news.

“A few weeks later he called us and he said you have corporate sponsorship, you’re staying in a corporate suite, we had limo ride to Rogers Centre, Blair’s name was up on the jumbotron,” explained Julianne. “Yeah, it was quite an experience.”

Julianne said he highlight of the trip for Blair was when he was able to meet Blue Jays TV play-by-play announcer Buck Martinez.

“Buck invited him (Blair) up to the broadcast booth for the fourth inning and top of the fifth, so for him, for sure that was the highlight.”

The Heagy’s went at a pretty good time getting to watch a red hot Blue Jays team, which at the time was on an 11-game winning streak. Unfortunately, the Jays lost the game but it did not seem to dampen the spirits of the Saskatchewan family.

“By the ninth inning we weren’t even sitting anymore. It was amazing energy. It was so exciting and so loud, my gosh, by the end that whole stadium, 47,000 people, and everybody was making noise,” said Julianne.

Putting sports aside, the break from reality was much-needed for the Heagy family.

“We had got a not great prognosis just before we left so it was just good to have a week with just us to just sort of process and, you know, hug a little longer and, you know, spend some time,” said Julianne.

Julianne calls Blair’s battle with cancer surreal saying there’s good days and bad days and the family appreciates the positive moments that arrive in their lives.

Blair was diagnosed with cancer back in 2013. After making progress fighting the disease, the cancer came back early this year. Now, Blair is into his third round of chemotherapy.