Photo Courtesy of the Rooney family

By Chris Brown

Thumbs up

#dominicstrong auction keeps Dominic Rooney’s legacy alive

Sep 22, 2020 | 4:39 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – They should be preparing to celebrate their son Dominic’s eighth birthday a few weeks from now.

Instead, Sean and Trish Rooney are preparing for the sixth annual #dominicstrong online auction which helps keep their son’s legacy alive.

“We always say and we have always said it’s sort of how we parent our son even though he’s not here,” said Sean. “That’s just sort of … you do what you can, so that’s what we do. We give back in his name.”

When Dominic passed away in 2015 after a two-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia, the community rallied around his parents and raised close to $10,000 through an online auction.

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

The auction has been an annual event since then and is back this weekend, starting Friday at 5 p.m. and ending Sunday at 5 p.m.

Each year the auction brings in about $10,000, every penny of which goes to the Alberta Children’s Hospital where Dominic spent much of his life.

“A lot of people don’t realize that the Alberta Children’s Hospital serves a lot of kids from Medicine Hat,” Sean says. “It kind of is a local charity even though the money is technically going to Calgary. A lot of our kids go there for many, many reasons, not just emergency but for like regular checkups and stuff too.”

Sean confesses that before he started asking for donations he felt guilty about doing so considering so many people have so little to give these days.

“But it turned out those fears were completely unfounded because once I started to ask everybody was like ‘yes we’re on board, we want to help.’ So it was great,” he said.

Ken Forbes, owner of SixOneSix Entertainment, has been donating since he started his business in 2017. He’s been inspired by what the Rooneys have been through and what they do each year.

“They took a negative and made it a positive. That #dominicstrong is so big now that it’s helping many, many people. Not just Dominic and Trish and Sean but the whole community,” says Forbes, who donated time on an axe throwing lane so people can check out his new downtown location. “They’re doing all the right things for all the right reasons.”

There are 100 items committed to the auction so far. Sean expects items adorned with Dominic’s trademark “thumbs up,” such as a skateboard from The Boarding House and word art from Natalie Long, will be popular.

Each item would be getting a big “thumbs up” from Dominic.

“He’s not around to speak for himself so we sort of speak for him in that sense and hopefully it’s a positive message that comes out,” says Sean. “Lots of thumbs up and smiles and you know, facing adversity you can do anything.”

Other items in the auction include a foosball table, board games, gift baskets and gift cards for local restaurants.

Other ways to show support

The annual auction is the biggest fundraiser each year for the #dominicstrong group. It’s even more important this year, as two other fundraisers – the Medicine Hat Mavericks Superhero Night and a mini-golf tournament at Hooplas – were both cancelled due to the pandemic.

You can donate to the Alberta Children’s Hospital through #dominicstrong any time during the year through Sean’s Extra Life page.

Each fall, Extra Life gamers from around the world collect pledges and play games for 24 hours. This year’s game day is on Nov. 7. Sean says anyone who wants to start their own Extra Life page can do so at extra-life.org and can have their own game day when it works for them.