Community Moment | DeJong’s generosity flowing through his veins
Tristan DeJong is not only a hockey player, but also an ambassador.
It is with great pride that the Moncton Wildcats defenceman became one of the Canadian Blood Services’ spokespersons last year, a role he has taken very seriously.
“As hockey players, we have the attention of many people in the community and in the media so it’s a great platform to promote the (Canadian Blood) Services,” he admits. “Personally, I want to use this stage to make people understand how important giving blood really is.”
Armed with shirts and other promotional items branded with the Canadian Blood Services logo, the 20-year-old player from Waterloo, Ontario has been promoting the organization in the Greater Moncton area.
“I want to give them a great presence on the web and on social media. I want to show people why it’s a great cause and why I’m so passionate about it,” says DeJong.
“I’m also a stem cell donor myself, something I recently discovered,” he adds. “I wasn’t really aware of the importance of being a donor, and of all the research it allows them to do.”
Special significance for Wildcats’ blood ambassador https://t.co/ZCgTnWNA1r pic.twitter.com/q5n7iI32Yk
— Times & Transcript (@TimesTranscript) January 25, 2021
There is no doubt that Tristan DeJong is cherishing his role new role as a spokesperson.
“I have always been someone who likes to be involved in his community. It became more difficult for junior hockey teams to do that with the pandemic. We can’t go to restaurants, businesses or anywhere else”, explains the veteran. “That’s why I decided to use social media a little more to share our message with the community.”
An unfortunate is what sparked the defenseman’s desire to give back. Back in 2011, disease hit the DeJong family hard when his uncle (Shawn Fitzgerald) passed away from leukemia, which is blood cancer.
“It was the first time in my life I had to face death. It was also the first time I had to go to a funeral,” remembers DeJong. “(My uncle) was a very important person in my family, he was really close to my mother. Since then, I have seen that same story happening to many other families.”
Tristan DeJong has never shied away from saying it, he misses his uncle and his presence.
“He was living in Newfoundland and, every time I went to visit him, we were always watching movies and playing cards. I have nothing but great memories from him.”
Even if this event was difficult to overcome, the one who wears jersey #5 for the Wildcats decided to use it in a positive way.
“His death convinced me to look at life in a different way. I now have a new perspective on things,” he says. “We have to cherish the time we have with our loved ones because we don’t really know how long we have to love them. We saw with the pandemic that the worst can happen really fast.”
No matter where life takes him, Tristan DeJong has every intention to continue investing his time for various causes, and wants to remain an ambassador of the Canadian Blood Services for a long time.
