A Vancouver teenager who died of childhood cancer last year was named Mr. Hudson’s Bay on Saturday.
Michael Little, who died in October of Ewing-like sarcoma, was posthumously named the winner of the annual pageant after his family raised $21,518 for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, the lion’s share of the fundraiser’s $37,386 total.
“I think it shows how loved Michael was,” his mother, Sharyn Little, said last week.
Michael was a 17-year-old senior at Hudson’s Bay High School when he died. He was a patient at the children’s hospital, and his family said he dreamed of participating in the competition to give back to the hospital that had become a second home.
“‘I just want to give back so bad,'” his sister, Lauren Little, remembers her baby brother saying.
Mr. and Ms. Hudson’s Bay is a mock beauty pageant in honor of T.J. Moen, a student who died of complications from a rare heart condition. Since it was founded 26 years ago, students at the school have raised more than $1 million for the hospital.
Michael’s sister, Lauren Little, said the support for her brother at the pageant was “above and beyond what I ever would have expected.”
“It was just amazing that he completed his goal and his dream to become Mr. Hudson’s Bay,” she said. “Hopefully it will help other families who are going through the same thing.”
Sarcoma is a broad range of 50 to 70 different soft-tissue cancers, a handful of which are prevalent in children. It’s unclear what causes the disease.
Only 4 percent of federal government cancer research goes to studying pediatric cancer, according to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. An estimated 43 children per day, or 15,780 per year, are diagnosed with cancer.
“We need to do something to cure childhood cancer,” Sharyn Little said. “It’s becoming more prevalent.”
