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Local miracle child is rowing every day for a great cause

Gage Goetz, a 10-year-old young man, knows what real challenges are first hand. He was born with several congenital heart defects and spent endless days in hospitals.
Gage Goetz
Gage Goetz has been rowing every day to raise money for the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital. Photo submitted

Gage Goetz, a 10-year-old young man, knows what real challenges are first hand. He was born with several congenital heart defects and spent endless days in hospitals.

This year he was asked to take on the role of a Miracle Child for the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital in Saskatoon, which he said was a very exciting opportunity for him.

"I felt very proud and astonished … I was like 'Crazy, Jeez, this is awesome!' I was really happy," Gage recalled.

Gage already had experience raising money for the hospital. In 2019, he was able to raise and donate over $30,000 that he generated through a 4-H steer and harness auction. He also did a mud run, raising money for the hospital earlier.

This time Gage decided to take on a new challenge to raise awareness and attract some funds for the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital.

"As a miracle child, I'm supposed to be the one that represents a certain area of Saskatchewan for the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital. And I wanted to raise funds for them," Gage said.

The new fundraising idea was inspired by his mother Tammi's coach Jennifer Olfert, who was engaging her clients in similar challenges.

"I'm rowing on a rowing machine. And every 100 metres people can choose how much money they can pledge me," explained Gage.

He started his rowing challenge on Oct. 1 and will continue until the end of the month. Every day, no matter what his schedule looks like, he rows. On average, Gage does about 220 metres each time, and he said the pledges so far vary from one to five dollars.

"The best I've done so far is 230 metres," Gage said.

Sometimes it's more difficult, but Gage is set on taking this challenge to the end. The family records his messages and his rowing and publishes videos on a Facebook page, Gage Goetz's Month of October Children's Hospital Fundraising.

The event page was created specifically for the fundraiser, and in two days about 2,000 people were viewing Gage's page and videos.

"We've got all the information on his Facebook page … and people have two options. They can either pledge Gage in his rowing for every 100 metres. To pledge they just send us a private message telling us how much they would like to pledge. And we keep track of all of this and at the end of the month, we tally up the total and let the individuals know what their total pledge amount is," Tammi explained.

"And for those who would rather do a flat rate now and not wait until the end of the month, they can go directly to his personal fundraiser page, which is on the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital (website) and they can donate on his miracle child page at any time. And this will go on into November when the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital has their radiothon, which is on November 4 and 5."

By press time, Gage already raised about $800 through his miracle child page.

Gage said that he is working on more ideas for fundraisers for the hospital, but he hasn't decided on what it's going to be yet.

His father Trevor said they are proud of their son and support his initiatives.

"We are very excited that he is able to this and willing to do it. We feel very fortunate as a family that our child has went through the hospital and has had operations, and he is healthy and is able to do these things.

"We feel it's our duty to be able to help the hospital out that helped us out so much," Trevor said.

All miracle children are also asked to find a Hometown Hero or Heroes sponsors. These are local businesses, willing to contribute $2,500 or more to the hospital. Gage is still looking for his Hometown Heroes. He pointed out that their support will be recognized and their logo or name will be featured on his hospital personal fundraising page.

No matter which form the support comes, Gage said he is really grateful to the community for it.

"I'd like to say thanks to everyone in the community and all around, who have supported me in this fundraiser and in the past."