The Deering family gears up for their 3-Minute Dash in Toys R Us. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Dori Modney / Brandyn Montgomery

Southern Alberta boy enjoys every child’s dream – a toy shopping spree

Jul 17, 2019 | 4:38 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s something you only see in the movies. A toy store opens up early for one special child to go in and select whatever toys they want. But it wasn’t a movie segment on Wednesday (July 17) morning, Toys R Us opened early — 7:00-am — for one special 10-year old boy to fulfill a fantasy.

Roree Deering was selected by the Starlight Children’s Foundation to have a 3-Minute Dash shopping spree at Lethbridge’s Toys R Us.

Roree suffers for Williams Syndrome and his name was put forward to have a chance at the toy splurge, where he and his family have three minutes to fill as many shopping carts as they can with toys that he would like.

For those not familiar with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, CEO Brian Bingolf was on hand to provide details.

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“Starlight is part of a world-wide organization where our mission is to help seriously ill children and their families deal with the pain, fear and the isolation that they go through when that child has a serious illness,” he explained.

He also noted, “Our premise is to incorporate the entire family in all the programs that we do. So that could be wish granting, we renovate pediatric play rooms in hospitals, we have an extensive in-hospital program where we send toys, coping kits, admit kits and in certain areas across the country we run a program called great escapes, where kids can come out and do adaptive snowmobile events, adaptive boating, pumpkin picking, and Christmas parties.”

“When you have a seriously ill child, it’s not easy to do those things.”

Bingolf says Starlight works with 144 health care facilities across the country, including those here in Alberta. The Foundation asks for the names of seriously ill children in each area who might be able to take part in a 3-minute Dash. Once applications are filled out, all the names are put into hat and names are selected.

Roree was the lucky child who got selected for Lethbridge this year.

Roree Deering looks on with excitement as the 3-Minute Dash is about to begin. (Lethbridge News Now)

Toys R Us and Babies R Us Canada President, Melanie Teed-Murch, says they have been working with Starlight Canada for 19-years.

“Over those 19-years we’ve given almost $20-million. As we trade in 83 stores across the country and all ten provinces, it’s important for us to give back to the communities that we serve, and we are here in Lethbridge today, to do a great Dash with Roree.”

Starlight and Toys R Us started doing the 3-Minute Dash about six years and toy store gives the foundation the opportunity to hold 12 to 15 Dashes across the country every year.

While there is a lot of excitement around most of the Dashes, Teed-Murch said the screaming and yelling would not be part of Roree’s event.

“He has a sensitivity to sound given his syndrome, so we’re just going to work with him and his little brother and his family, to fill carts.”

Roree was also fitted with headphones to minimize the sound.

“Giving back to our families,” says Teed-Murch, “is really important to Toys R Us.

We want to level the playing field for them – normally their environments are about surgeries, or sterile environments and treatments – today, it’s just about joy and to have a Toys R Us store that’s open just for them, is pretty exciting for a ten-year-old boy.”

Roree’s father Randy took the opportunity to explain his son’s health issues.

“With Williams Syndrome Roree has a missing chromosome and part of the elastin gene missing, which means he has low muscle tone, which means he can’t walk very far, or he gets tired very often. There are challenges with that — even going to a store, he’s in a cart a lot of the time, or I have to carry him.

“He also has heart problems and he will eventually need gastric bypass surgery.”

Deering said his son has already had heart surgery and at the time it was very difficult for the family, as they learned four other Williams syndrome children had passed away.

Roree has a younger brother, Carter, who is healthy and has become very helpful with Roree.

“He sees when Roree is upset and tries to calm him down. Roree has a favourite paint brush that he likes to have and today Carter found it and gave it to Rory because he knows that’s his comfort.”

Roree was also thinking of his little brother and planned to choose cars and tractors that the younger boy would like.

Randy Deering said the day meant a lot to his family.

“The Starlight Foundation has been so good to us – since we’re out of town they call my wife all the time to see if we’d be able to make it to a hockey game, we saw the Pandas in Calgary (zoo), they even rearranged their schedule for my wife to do a mom’s day in Calgary.”

“They are just awesome for us – this just means the world to my family.”