Carol Brons extends daughter’s legacy through blood donation

Carol Brons was on the ice during the intermission of the Saskatoon Blades’ WHL game Wednesday night.

Cheered on by thousands of fans, Brons was shooting a puck from centre ice, trying to hit the net to trigger a $1,000 donation for Canadian Blood Services.

It’s never something she imagined doing 10 or even five years ago, but it has become more common since her daughter Dayna — the former athletic therapist of the Humboldt Broncos — died in the April 2018 bus crash.

“I guess it’s one of the few things, a positive, that came out of a terrible tragedy that we lost Dayna,” Carol Brons said. “She was a blood donor.”

Carol’s appearance Wednesday happened with the help of Hockey Gives Blood, an organization founded in the weeks following the Broncos bus crash to spur on the hockey community to donate and engage with Canadian Blood Services.

Stu Middleton, one of the founders of Hockey Gives Blood, was invited to speak at the Broncos Memorial Golf Tournament in August 2018. That’s when he was approached by Carol.

“I told him how Dayna had been a blood donor and how she donated her hair and her time,” Carol said. “He felt that real connection and we’ve maintained a connection since then.”

Middleton, a junior hockey player in the 2000s with the Revelstoke Grizzlies, was flooded with memories of his own after hearing about the Broncos bus crash.

His father died while travelling to one of his son’s hockey games when Stu was 18 years old.

While donating blood seems like a selfless act for some people, Middleton feels there’s usually a personal connection to be found.

“I never became a blood donor until I was 37,” he said. “You can say no one told me, but the reality is that the younger ages — 17 to 20 — they’re busy being happy, young and healthy, and no one is telling them that being a blood donor is important.

“Unless you have that personal connection … it doesn’t really resonate.”

Middleton’s relationship with the Brons family eventually led to the creation of the Dayna Brons Memorial Award, going to the junior hockey player who shows dedication to blood donation and stem cell products.

The award is slated to go out for a second year; Ontario Hockey League goaltender Jacob Ingham won it last year.

The idea of seeing his daughter’s name on an award is still surprising to Dayna’s father, Lyle Brons.

“Never thought anything like that would ever happen,” he said.

Middleton is hoping players like Ingham will lead more hockey players to donate blood and register for Canadian Blood Services’ stem cell network.

“That’s really been our message,” Middleton said. “Hopefully these young leaders will lead by example and the rest will follow.”

Middleton said 25 Canadian Hockey League teams have signed on to support Hockey Gives Blood, as well as 16 ambassadors from across the country.