By paNOW

Regina boy battling cancer finds global support

Jun 8, 2013 | 10:21 AM

A young boy from Regina is gaining world-wide support as he battles a rare form of brain cancer.

Last September, doctors in Regina noticed a tumour on the brain stem of six-year-old Tyler Puetz. Since then, he’s undergone nearly 30 radiation treatments as the location of the tumour makes it inoperable.

Survival rates on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma are very low, but to lift the spirits of Puetz and his family, Chad Bremner decided to take a stuffed monkey on a global sailing race and has been posting pictures to a Facebook page of rthe monkey’s adventures.

Bremner is an old friend of Tyler’s dad, James Puetz. And when he heard the news about his old friend’s son, he had already been training for the race for over two years.

“Instantly, I thought about my own kids,” said Bremner. “It’s emotional because it’s relative to you like right now.”

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Bremner bought two monkeys, one for Tyler and another “sailing” monkey who has acts as a type of baton passed along from one sailing crew to another and visiting dozens of countries in the process.

“We did this event called crew allocation in London,” said Bremner. “There are 12 different boats and there are 12 skippers. And each skipper stands up and he reads off the names of all the people in his crew. The skipper stands up and he’s reading all the names, and he gets to the last spot, and there’s Tyler’s monkey on the official crew registry. That’s just a sign of how much support we’re getting from everybody.”

The monkey has since spent time “training” for the race, working with London’s Air Ambulance and touring much of the United Kingdom. Over 3,500 people from around 100 different countries have “liked” and followed the Sailing Around the World for Tyler Facebook page. Many of these people have donated money, including one Regina woman who held an online auction and raised $20,000 for the Ronald McDonald House. Bremner said most of these people have never met Tyler or the Puetz family.

“He’s stuck in a hospital or stuck in his house so he can’t really do too much. So this way he can experience different adventures just by watching where his monkey is going,” said Bremner.

Sadly, Tyler’s cancer has reduced his mobility quite drastically, but Kelly Puetz posts on the Facebook page that he gives thumbs up every time he sees his monkey. And while the Puetz family has clearly enjoyed the support of the thousands of people following their journey, Bremner said he’s learned a lot himself from Tyler’s experience.

“You get these little issues at work and in your social life… it really helps you back up and see what’s important,” he said. “He’s affected more people than some adults do in their entire lives. He’s really touched hearts and changed the way people act in different situations.”

“Don’t worry about everything in the future. Live in the now. Live for today,” he added.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow