Teams dedicate games to Ann Haering

This past week, hockey games were played with more meaning, but were also put into perspective as the team members, coaches and families were shaken by the most-recent struggles of their friend Ann Haering, an East Ridge senior who has been in a four-year battle with leukemia and is now gravely ill.

The girls hockey game between friends and rivals on East Ridge and Woodbury and the East Ridge boys hockey team’s win over Forest Lake were both dedicated to Haering.

The girls on both the East Ridge and Woodbury teams taped their sticks, socks and helmets in orange tape — which is the color of Ann’s ribbon — and created a photo board with pictures of Haering, made and gave away ribbons for fans and took donations for the Haering family. Prior to the game, members from the teams spoke about their friend and her fight with leukemia.

The East Ridge boys hockey team also dedicated its game on Saturday — a 2-0 win over Forest Lake — to Haering. A number of the Raptors’ boys have also opted to shave their heads in support of Haering.

Haering has been battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia since being originally diagnosed with the disease as an eighth-grader at Lake Middle School on Feb. 6, 2007.

After nearly 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy, Haering was in remission and able to return to a typical high school life as a junior at East Ridge. However, the remission turned out to be temporary and on April 28, 2010 she found out the leukemia had returned and she needed to begin chemotherapy again. On Monday, Aug. 9, 2010, Haering also underwent a blood/bone marrow transplant at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

According to the Haering family’s website, on Monday, Jan. 24, Haering was admitted to the in-patient intensive-care unit at the University of Minnesota hospital with a serious blood infection. The doctors have told the Haering family that Ann’s recent setback is likely fatal, the website says.

Haering will now be enrolled in Karuna Care, a program allowing physicians to provide palliative care to children with potentially life-limiting conditions and their families at their homes.

For more information on Ann Haering, or to make a donation to the “Friends of Ann Haering” fund, log on to www.annhaering.org.

Tags: east ridge, sports, hockey, woodbury, royals, raptors, prep, updates