Hundreds of Edmontonians lined up for a chance to meet The Great One as Wayne Gretzky held a book signing at the Ice Palace in West Edmonton Mall Monday evening.
But while many of the 150 people lucky enough to meet the hockey legend likely wanted to thank him for the Stanley Cups he helped the Edmonton Oilers win in the 1980s, a teenage girl came to thank him for something else.
READ MORE: Hockey fans line up all day for chance to meet Wayne Gretzky
Thirteen-year-old Ainsley Bender-Yantha met No. 99 nine years ago when she was a little girl fighting kidney cancer at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. She decided Monday provided her the perfect opportunity to give him a thank you card for lifting her spirits as a four year old.
After meeting Gretzky on Monday, Ainsley said the hockey icon told her he remembered when they first met.
Ainsley’s mother told Global News she hoped Gretzky knew how much his visits were appreciated by her daughter and other children at the hospital.
“I just thank him for the time,” Stacey Bender-Yantha said. “He didn’t have to go to the hospital and spend so much time with the children.
“There was no press there at the time so he just did it secretly and undercover and I was amazed at all the time he spent with each individual child.”
Stacey said Ainsley had a kidney removed at the time they first met and was not reacting well to chemotherapy and that the visit was extremely special for everyone.
“That just touches me and shows me what kind of special person he is.”
Gretzky’s appearance at the mall was to promote his new book 99: Stories of the Game.
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