Habs fan club celebrates pint-sized cancer suvivor with big heart

Joel Bachman, 7, has a smile that lights up a room, but it wasn’t always that way for the Holdfast Sask. boy.
 
Bachman went through 31 radiation treatments for medulloblastoma, an aggressive malignant tumour found in the back of his brain in Nov. 2015.
 
The tumor and treatments couldn’t keep Bachman from finding a way to give back. He donated a combined $1100 to the Saskatchewan Children’s Hospital Foundation and Children’s Make-a-Wish.
 
“They’ve been so nice to me,” Bachman said. “They helped me get rid of my cancer.”
 
Bachman’s father Aaron said he was filled with pride when his son approached him about making the donation.
 
“We were sitting at the kitchen table when Joel brought me his big tall piggy bank. ‘Dad I want to donate this to the hospital because they’ve helped me so much,’ it was amazing,” he said.
 
But Bachman’s generosity didn’t stop at his piggy bank. 
 
A few weeks later he told his parents to skip presents and use his hockey-themed birthday to raise money for Make-a-Wish.
 
“We rented the rink in our community, everybody came and donated money to help other kids,” Aaron Bachman said. “It’s incredible how he comes up with this stuff.”
 
While he may not have wanted presents, Bachman’s story was noticed by the Western Canada Montreal Canadiens fan club, who sent him and his family to a Habs game on March. 20, 2016.
 
“It was really fun,” said Joel Bachman, despite the Habs losing 4-1 to the Calgary Flames.
 
The Habs’ organization hooked Joel up with a tour of the Bell Centre, along with signed gear from PK Subban, his favourite player — now a member of the Nashville Predators. 
 
“(Bachman) always stayed positive and said ‘never give up,’ that made him so special to us,” said fan club president Jim Tamond.
 
“He is part of our fan club family, we just love him,” he added.
 
The club has always tried to give back to the community since Tamond formed it in 1988.
 
Club events often serve as fundraisers, such as their alumni game at Harold Latrace Arena Sunday in support of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
 
Joel got to be the flag-bearer for the Montreal Alumni team, featuring Habs legends like Rick Green, and Stéphane Richer.
 
“It means so much to Joel to get to do these things,” said Aaron. “The community and the Habs fan club have been so good to us.”
 
Right now, Bachman’s cancer is gone, but his father said the next five years are crucial to make sure it doesn’t come back.
 
“We go in every three months to the hospital to make sure the tumour isn’t coming back,” he said.

650 CKOM’s JT Marshall caught up with Bachman at the game:

The biggest interview in my career 7 year old Joel Bachman survived cancer and is a massive @CanadiensMTL fan- flag bearer for alumni game pic.twitter.com/YYT6fne7L2

— JT Marshall (@jtmarshallCKOM) March 5, 2017

The second part of my interview with Joel Bachman- seven year old kid who survived cancer and is a massive @PKSubban1 fan #yxe @CKOMNews pic.twitter.com/rfJbcN0wGk

— JT Marshall (@jtmarshallCKOM) March 5, 2017