PokerStars Support recently received an email that wasn't asking for play chips, or for a picture change... The writer started out with, "I have a question, I will tell you right now it has nothing to do with poker, but please hear me out."
The email was from Kelly Gould, 'Calypso-Star' at our tables. Kelly's a Mum of three from Nova Scotia, Canada. She said, "I know how generous poker players can be, so I was wondering if PokerStars could help a little boy with a wish. I'm sure you have heard of the Child's Wish Foundation, they grant wishes for terminally ill children who have wishes and dreams they want fulfilled. Now I read this story about this little boy who wants his wish granted. He could have went to Disneyland, or visited his favorite movie star, but instead he wants to feel special on his birthday. He wants to get into the Guinness book of World Records for getting the most birthday cards ever."
Kelly explained that her local school was asking students to send cards to this brave cancer patient, and encouraging the community to get involved. When she'd mentioned this story to PokerStars players at a play money table she'd been overwhelmed by their response. "I told just a few people on a play money table about this little boy and they all quickly agreed to send cards, so I figured if I can get a few poker players to do this on a table, imagine if I could get to all the poker players."
Shane Bernier is seven years old, from Lancaster, Ontario. He's being treated for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and making promising progress in his fight against Cancer. He turns eight on May 30th, and whether he breaks a record or not, hopes to celebrate the day with a big pile of birthday cards.
Kelly said, "I have three very healthy children and it breaks my heart to hear of a child's suffering. It is not fair for someone so young to have such a huge illness, I just wanted to use all my power to help."
Kelly's email was a touching change from the usual emails that reach Support, "I was wondering if PokerStars could put something up to advertise this? I'm sure he would get tonnes of cards from generous poker players."
PokerStars is happy to help by way of this blog post. So if you want to help Shane, visit his website and you can send your birthday cards to:
Shane Bernier
P.O. Box 484
Lancaster, ON
Canada
K0C 1N0
