Variety the spice of life for CFLer

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This article was published 29/02/2012 (5306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He may have been too young at the time to understand what Variety did for him, but Donovan Alexander has dedicated himself to giving back to the charity he says he owes his life to.

Now a healthy 26-year-old defensive back for the Edmonton Eskimos, Alexander was born with two aortas, one of which was wrapped around his windpipe. The defect was discovered when he was 18 months old, and doctors said he likely wouldn’t live another year.

With the help of Variety, a surgeon with the proper expertise was brought in from Toronto — it was too risky for the young patient to fly — and Alexander’s problem was fixed.

Ever since, the Tuxedo-born Alexander was raised to appreciate just how lucky he was to be a “Variety kid.”

“My parents raised me in support of Variety,” said Alexander, who now lives in St. Boniface during the CFL off-season. “We would go to all the telethons and events they had. I thought it was cool at the time, and then when I got older I realized what they had done for me. I owe my life to Variety.”

That debt of gratitude prompted him to start the Donovan Alexander Heart Bowl in 2010. The third annual bowling event, which was held at Laverendrye Bowling Lanes on Feb. 25, represented Alexander’s attempt to increase awareness about the charity and what it does to help Manitoba children.

“I just try to fill the lanes up, get friends to bring some of their own friends, and get new people and new faces every year,” he said.

The first two events raised $3,000 each, and Alexander was hoping to reach the $3,500 mark this year.

Lane 13 had a lucky group of bowlers, who got to team up with the event’s host. Variety kids Ryan Massey, Hailey Augustine, Alex Butterill and Cody Calcutt took aim at the pins alongside a professional football player who once was an extremely ill child.

“I don’t play football,” said Massey, a 17-year-old Transcona resident who has undergone four heart surgeries since he was eight months old. “But I want to become a dancer. I know just because I have a heart problem, it doesn’t mean I can’t do anything just like anyone else.”

If Massey’s plans to become a “dancer, actor and singer” don’t work out, his next option is to become a “heart doctor.”

“The kids love it,” said Wayne Rogers, Variety’s executive director. “(Alexander’s) an easygoing, approachable guy. He loves kids. He’s really marvelous.”

You might think Alexander sees himself as an inspiration to the young Variety kids, but in reality it’s the other way around.

“I’ve met a lot of kids,” he said, “and I think they inspire me more. They never lead on that they have a disease. They don’t know that they need any inspiration.”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com