CALGARY -- A special holiday edition of the George Stephenson Horse Races was held at the St. Louis Hotel on Friday to help Jim Button gallop toward his goal of raising $5 million for pediatric oncology.
The amount raised wasn't huge – about $1,000 – but the organization it's going to, is – an endowed research chair position at the Cumming School of Medicine for pediatric psychosocial oncology and survivorship.
"The short format is, the mental health of kids dealing with cancer, that have cancer or have survived cancer," said Button.
"It will be one of the first ones in North America, which is a very proud Calgary moment."
Button, who co-founded Village Brewery before becoming one of the city's best-known philanthropists, has been involved in his own battle against cancer for the past five years.
"I believe a life of purpose has helped me stay alive," he said.
"I'm past my due date, they gave me a year to live, I'm now at 3.5 years and along that process, I think one of the reasons why I'm doing so well is because of the mental spot I'm in, and I got that through a lot of support through psychosocial oncology that are available for adults.
"We now need research to make them more available for kids, which is why my wife Tracey and I so passionate about this project."
The horse races were originally held over Friday lunch hours at the St. Louis Hotel for the better part of two decades, until the early 2000s.
Names of horses would be written on napkins and everyone at a table would choose one and place a bet (the pot would be under $10) then George Stephenson would "call" an imaginary race, using a lot of wit and humour.
