Between a backdrop of hockey jerseys and a canopy of Mary Poppins’ striped umbrellas, Wilson Roposo bared his cancer journey to sports celebrities and local guests on Saturday in the Boyle & District Community Centre.
From the explaining surgeries with a model skull to describing his darkest moments, Roposo spared no details in talking about how the disease changed him.
He also spared no emotion while talking about how Boyle native Bryan Mudryk – the man, his family and his community – has made a difference in his life.
“Without your support, your donations, your involvement, things just wouldn’t come through,” he said to the audience in a speech.
“The only thing that I ask is that if you know anybody with cancer, please be there for them,” he added later in the speech. “Because we wouldn’t be here without the support that you guys have to offer, and the community’s very valuable.”
Roposo was speaking at the dinner for the 14th Bryan Mudryk Golf Classic, the annual tournament hosted by the Mudryk and his family to raise money for the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, where Mudryk was a patient during his battle with cancer.
“When you’ve been through it, and you can surround yourself with other people who have had that same battle, you’re like kindred spirits in a sense,” Mudryk said. “I think there’s a lot of power in supporting other people, and I (have) a big sense of pride in helping other people that are young, that are going through something that I went through.”
Terry Mudryk-Harbarenko, Bryan Mudryk’s mother and event organizer, said this year’s tournament and dinner sold out and brought in about 300 people. She said although final figures will not be ready until next week, it looks like they might surpass their target of $50,000.
“It never ceases to amaze me,” she said. “Every year I think, ‘What can top last year?’ And then something comes along, and tops last year.”
She said next year’s event – which will be Western themed – will be the last in this particular format.
“It will be our 15-final, as we know it, and we’ll be changing up the format,” she said. “That format works, but I think a lot of our sponsors and everyone that we’ve talked to is on board. I think sometimes you need to change up the format just to make it more interesting, and give it a little twist and turn.”
Mudryk also pointed out that the event is a lot of work.
“I think we’re going to do it one more year, for sure,” he said. “It’s a lot of work for my mom and myself – and her especially.”
The initial goal when the tournament began was to reach $1 million. After reaching that target in 2013, Mudryk said he made a secondary goal of $2 million.
“Still a long ways away,” he said, noting that the tournament could continue in a smaller capacity.
“The hard thing about quitting, is because we have so many great sponsors and people that support it, that it’s almost a shame to stop,” he added.
“I used to have to scrape and battle to get sponsors, and now they call me wanting to do it,” he said, noting that big companies now approach him about sponsorships.
The annual event’s effects are far reaching.
Roposo was the recipient of last year’s Bryan Mudryk Golf Classic Scholarship, given to people fighting cancer while continuing post-secondary education in Alberta.
This year’s recipient was 23-year-old Matthew Miller, who said he found out he had Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 22 in the fall of 2014. He said when he found out he had cancer he was in shock, and people his age cannot comprehend it.
“I felt so incredibly isolated,” he said, adding that he is starting his own not-for-profit foundation, as he feels there is not enough support available for young adults with cancer.
Miller also said “it’s unreal” that Boyle’s community of 900 people has raised almost $2 million for the institute through the golf tournament.
“It’s really baffling,” he said. “That power of community is so special.”
