Ryan Reynolds spoke to members of Cobourg Town Council on Wednesday to champion renaming a local arena after an inspirational girl from the area.
In 2014, the Deadpool star met nine-year-old Grace Bowen in Toronto when he was being inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame. Bowen was backstage at the event with Canadian hockey legend, Hayley Wickenheiser.
Bowen had suffered from osteosarcoma, the same cancer which Terry Fox had, and the little girl would die from the disease months later.
“I was just really taken by Grace, she just, her name kind of said it all,” Reynolds said.
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“I just remember looking at this little girl who’s going through so much … but yet she has the sort of sense of calm and sense of well-being,” the Vancouver native added.
The chance meeting, in part, inspired Reynolds to launch the Ugly Sweater campaign, which raises funds for SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
“I wasn’t doing anything with this platform that I had, and Grace just changed that,” Reynolds said.
SickKids is celebrating its 150th birthday by honouring 150 significant moments, including the meeting between Reynolds and Bowen in 2014.
There is a display at the Pond Arena in Cobourg to honour her.
Reynolds told the council he was speaking with Bowen’s father recently when an idea was sprung to rename the Pond Arena in Cobourg in honour of Grace.
“That was Grace’s temple. That was her church. That was her everything. You know, hockey was her life,” Reynolds shared.
After Reynolds and the Bowen family addressed council during a committee meeting, members unanimously supported the change. It will still need to go through a full council vote on April 30 to be approved.
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