Dream come true for Oiler fan in his final days

39 year old Kent Pedersen was the Edmonton Oilers number one fan. He loved to collect hockey jerseys – most of them Oilers, many of them signed.

“He has 45 jerseys. I just counted 15 of them from the Oilers,” said Tami Pedersen, Kent’s older sister.

On June 4th, Pedersen was hit by a car in Lethbridge. At the time of his accident, paramedics were forced to cut off his Edmonton Oilers Rob Klinkhammer jersey – a Lethbridge native.

“He had a real place in his heart for the locals. Klinkhammer, Versteeg, Jamie Pushor. He met them all,” added Tami.

Pedersen received a special package while in Calgary’s Foothills Hospital. It was a letter and signed jersey from Klinkhammer.

“It was nice that he got it and I got a couple messages saying it brightened his last couple days on earth,” said Klinkhammer. “When you get a chance to do that it makes you feel good. From what I have heard the family was impacted and touched by it. If you can help people out in a tragic situation like that it’s a good thing to do,” added the Oilers forward.

Tami Pedersen was in the ICU while visiting him when the nurse gave her a package.

“I saw the return address and I was like ‘Wow!’. I opened it up and there was a jersey signed and a personalized letter,” added Pedersen.

Kent was not able to speak at the time, but his sister said he was all smiles.

“He wrote on my hand ‘I’m stunned!’ and he was very excited. The joke was, now we have his address we are going to go to his house and trick or treat.”

Only days after receiving the special gift, Pedersen passed away. His family says he truly lived life, especially when celebrating his number one passion – the Oilers.