The Keene Community High School Ice Hockey Teams of KHS/FMRHS Girls, KHS Boys and Monadnock/FMRHS are teaming up to raise funds for Boston Children’s Hospital.  Spencer Harrington, a player from FMHS on the Monadnock/FMRHS Team, had a heart transplant 5 years ago and was cared for at Boston Children’s Hospital.  In conjunction with Heart Month, all 3 teams will be collecting donations from February 5-February 15th, 2020, and donating to Boston Children’s Hospital on Spencer’s behalf.  

Spencer's Story:

Spencer was born with a severe heart defect that was undetected in utero.  He was born in Keene, then flown by helicopter to Dartmouth-Hitchcock within hours.  They diagnosed his condition and flew him on to Boston Children's Hospital, the premier pediatric heart center in the world.  He underwent five open-heart surgeries by the time he was five years old, all at Boston Children's.  From five to ten years old his heart functioned well, and he played sports and did all normal kid things.

At age 10 he went into heart failure, and the only solution was to go on the transplant list to wait for a new heart.  His heart deteriorated rapidly though, so his surgeons placed a battery-powered mechanical pump in his heart to pump blood to his body.  He had that pump for over a year, but he was able to be home and attend 5th, then 6th grade with it in place.  After 13 months on the transplant list, a heart came on February 4, 2015, when Spencer was 11 years old.  His recovery had many ups and downs, but his heart condition now mostly means that he takes daily medicine for the rest of his life and sees a cardiologist every 3 months to monitor his heart.  He is a junior at Fall Mountain High School who plays golf and hockey for the school.  When he is not playing sports he also works at Spencer's Place, a restaurant in his hometown of Walpole that was named after him by family friends.

          Red at the Rink Games:

                Monadnock             Wed, Feb 5             7:00 PM

                KHS Boys               Sat, Feb 8                5:30 PM

                KHS Girls               Sat, Feb 8                7:30 PM

 All games played at Keene ICE.

 ****Final tally of donations collected will be announced after the 2nd period at the Monadnock game on Sat, Feb 15th ****

We will also be providing information on the importance of knowing CPR, giving blood and being an organ donor. 

On Saturday, February 15th we will present the donation amount to Spencer and his family during 2nd and 3rd period.  We will still collect donations throughout the Keene boys game directly following the Monadnock game.