Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

DUCHENNE AWARENESS MONTH

Unique gaming event with WolfPack raises money, awareness for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Sep 26, 2023 | 3:08 PM

KAMLOOPS — At first glance, it could be any soccer match on the big screen at the Yew Street Food Hall. If you took a minute to watch the action, it became clear that someone was in clear control of the action.

“I’m not going to lie, Jude smoked me,” Ethan Furlong, a defender with the TRU WolfPack men’s soccer team says. “It was 6-2, I had no chance. Now he’s up against Junior [Agyekum], he’s already up 2-0 and he’s probably going to wipe the floor with our whole team, here.”

On Sunday (Sept. 24), Jude’s family held a Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy fundraiser and awareness event at the food hall. Jude, who signed on as the official twelfth man with the WolfPack men’s soccer team last fall, took on all challengers in a FIFA tournament on PlayStation and proved to be a tough opponent.

“Jude’s kicking our butts, to say the least,” Domenico Comita, WolfPack Midfielder says. “As long as he’s having fun, that’s what it’s all about. We’re just happy we could come out and be with Jude, and enjoy some FIFA while we’re at it.”

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While Duchenne is the most common form of muscular dystrophy, it only affects around 800 boys and young men across Canada.

“Jude just had a spontaneous mutation which resulted in that, which means we didn’t have any lineage in our families,” Jude’s Mom, Kasha explains. “Being that it’s rare, it can be quite isolating. He’s the only boy I know in Kamloops that has it.”

That’s one reason it meant so much to the Mittons when the WolfPack adopted Jude as one of their won, last year, ahead of the 2023 USports National Championships. Jude even got onto the field with the ‘Pack to celebrate the win and got a special piece of hardware.

“When he got handed that gold medal, I don’t think he took it off for, oh, about a week,” Kasha remembers. “He even wore fit to school. It’s hanging up at his bedside, and I think it’s a reminder of what we can do to create that sense of community and inclusion for people.”

For the WolfPack athletes who came out, it was a way to show support for one of their biggest supporters.

“It’s always good, bringing the team together, supporting Jude. He’s a good kid,” Michael Ojo says. “It’s a great morning. Good event, for sure.”

“It’s amazing. He feels like one of the guys, even though he’s not out there on the field,” Furlong says. “We know he has our back out there in the stands, so it’s really amazing.”

“It really shows what an awesome community Kamloops is,” Comita says. “For us to be able to get pretty well every single guy from our team to come out and support Jude and raise awareness for Duchenne is really fantastic. We’re happy we can support him and be here for him, for sure.”

There’s no cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and those with the disease aren’t expected to live past their 20s. However, through fundraising and awareness campaigns, there’s hope for a cure.

“We want to bring awareness and create a little bit of an impact impact,” Kasha says. “Hopefully [we can] take this to the bigger picture with advocacy work at the government level.”