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Wishes & More Grants Wish of Goalie Gear
Roseville, MN - Max is a 13-year old athlete who participates in five different sports and has led an active life until he was sidelined by a form of liver cancer for seven months. After fighting hard, Max is set to return to the ice for his Champlin Park team this upcoming hockey season. Wishes & More was a part of Max’s journey, as they are for many kids who are battling serious life-threatening illnesses. Max’s wish was to receive new goalie gear when he would make his return to the ice.
The Tipsy Steer/High Pines Brewery in Roseville was the site of a packed house of members of “Team Max” that were there to support their favorite young goaltender. Team Max packed the house to capacity as friends and family were on hand for the Wishes & More Beer and Wine Sampling Fundraiser. Appetizers, a flight of beers, and wines were available for those in attendance to enjoy.
Max was not aware his wish for new goalie gear was on the evening’s agenda. Much to his surprise, Max was not only expected to speak with other kids at the gathering with Wishes & More founder and volunteer President Karla Blomberg, he would receive his wish. 
Former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher, Hobey Baker Award winner, Duluth Denfeld, and NHL goaltender Rob Stauber was on hand to greet Max and discuss his journey and love of hockey. The two goaltenders shared their moments as goaltenders and near the end of their discussion, Stauber reached for a black goalie bag stuffed full of brand new goalie gear. From skates to leg pads, chest and arm pads, breezers, knee pads, blocker, catch glove, stick and mask were all included in the wish which was truly an incredible gift for the young goaltender who when asking for the wish was hoping for a pair of leg pads. Not only did Max receive an NHL-style tape-job from Stauber on his new stick, he also will receive a one-on-one goalie training session. Stauber was the goalie coach at the University of Minnesota and also captured a Gold Medal as the coach of the 2018 US Women’s Olympic Team.
Max was shocked by what was in the bag for him and said, “There was a lot of great stuff. There is probably like $5,000 or $6,000 worth of top-tier stuff. I don’t think I would ever get that much stuff, my parents definitely wouldn’t buy that for me. That was a really cool thing to do for me.”
His father Robb was equally shocked by what was delivered by Wishes & More at the event. “I’m so floored about that because I was thinking maybe a pair of leg pads,” he said. “Honestly, a set of leg pads is thousands of dollars and to get the whole stack is pretty amazing.”
It is not easy for parents to see their kids have to go through the rigors of cancer and treatment. Robb was equally concerned about cancer and seeing his vibrant young and active son away from the things he loves to do athletically with his friends. “It was very tough because when you hear about cancer, it’s the worst,” Robb said. “For him, it was just being put on the sidelines. That was the biggest thing with being sidelined, with not being able to play the sports.
If you know him it's, ‘Hey, who wants to shoot hoops, who wants to play knee hockey, when’s the next thing, organizing kickball.’ To be on the sidelines was very hard for those seven months was really hard,”
Having to deal with a real-life thing that cancer brings to the table and equally being away was a double challenge for Max. “Going through cancer, the ability to never give up is one of the biggest things I got out of having cancer,” Max said. “Even though it really sucks, it just gives you another reminder that you can never lose hope.”
Making it all happen is Wishes & More which is a MN charity supporting local kids who are battling serious, life-threatening conditions. They go above and beyond to make sure that each Wish is as unique and extraordinary for each individual child and family as possible. Scholarship of Hope® funds is set aside for each child as a promise that they will continue to be with them when they graduate from high school and go on to higher education. Memorial funds are given to parents when a child doesn’t survive to experience a wish in order to let them know that Wishes & More care about them and hurt with them. As an organization, they know that they can’t take away the illness of a child, the hurt of the family members, or the struggles of financial situations; however, joy, hope, and precious memories to an entire family, a network of friends and community surrounding them by Wishes & More.