Hockey for Hope

Why this weekend exists

Cancer treatment ends and the hard part often begins. Hockey for Hope supports the mental health care that comes after, for patients at the QEII who would otherwise cover it themselves.

Shay Needham smiling in a black Hockey for Hope jersey as she lines up for a faceoff

The founder

Shay Needham started this after her own diagnosis

In 2015, at 42, Shay Needham was diagnosed with lung neuroendocrine cancer. A tumour the size of a golf ball came out of her left lung in major surgery, followed by recovery and years of follow-up tests and scans to confirm she remains cancer-free.

What followed was harder to see from the outside. Her work and personal life came apart in the same stretch, and she has described days when getting out of bed felt beyond her. Therapy, covered by her health insurance, is what turned it around.

That coverage is what most patients do not have. Shay built the tournament in 2023 to close the gap, naming the fund with her friends at Shay's Angels and running it through the QEII Foundation.

“We really need the community to help us, as we want to ensure that these grants are always available to those who have the courage to ask for help.”
Shay NeedhamFounder of Hockey for Hope

The mechanism

How a grant reaches a patient

Patients do not apply and do not need to make a case for themselves. Their care team does it, which is the part that matters most to people who are already exhausted.

A provider notices

A social worker, nurse navigator, chaplain or physician on the QEII cancer care team sees that a patient would benefit from support they cannot afford.

They apply

The provider applies to the fund on that patient's behalf for a grant of up to $1,000.

The QEII Foundation supports

Money moves through the Foundation to cover private counselling, so that when a patient asks for help it's there.

The patient gets care

No waiting list, no means test at the door, and no bill arriving later in the middle of treatment.

The fund runs out

Applications were paused in April 2025 because the money was gone. Every tournament refills it, and how far it stretches depends on what the weekend raises.

Year by year

The tournament has grown every year

Ten teams in the first year, twenty-four in 2025. The 2026 field is set at twenty-two, with a goal of $39,000.

Donate to the 2026 fund (opens in a new tab)
Amounts raised for the mental health fund, by tournament year.
YearTeamsRaisedNote
202310$33,000Inaugural tournament
202416$39,000Second year, field grew to sixteen
202524$36,000+Sold out field
202622$39,000 goalRegistration closed

100+

Patients supported

Funded since the first tournament in 2023.

100%

Of proceeds to the fund

Tournament proceeds go to grants for QEII cancer patients.

Who it reaches

Three people the fund has supported

“It not only helps you with your physical health by going to massage therapy, I think it opens your eyes to your own body and how you can better treat it and it helps you get through your treatments better.”
Hope SingerDiagnosed with leukemia on her high school graduation day. The fund covered six massage therapy treatments.
“It has given me a boost when it was difficult to manage all of the added expenses. I feel very fortunate. Whatever help I've had, including this counselling, I appreciate it for sure.”
David FerrignoDiagnosed with stomach cancer in 2014 and sinus cancer later. He reached counselling through his patient navigator.
“I just see so many benefits to these grants and their flexibility, as everyone's mental health needs are different. For so many, finances are a barrier.”
Alyson CurrieSocial worker on the QEII psychosocial oncology team, who has applied for at least ten grants.

Quotations and patient stories on this page are reported by the QEII Foundation. Read the full pieces on the QEII Foundation news site (opens in a new tab).

Who runs it

Shay's Angels, with the QEII Foundation

Shay's Angels is the volunteer group behind the weekend: Shay Needham with co-organizer Jen Buffett, plus the referees, timekeepers and auction volunteers who give up a September weekend every year.

The QEII Foundation holds the fund and issues tax receipts. The QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax is Atlantic Canada's largest adult academic health centre, and its care teams are the ones who decide where each grant goes.

Volunteers and players in Hockey for Hope jerseys gathered for a group photo

Refill the fund

Any amount reaches a patient

Donations run through the QEII Foundation page, which issues the tax receipt. Roughly a thousand dollars covers one patient's grant in full.

Donate now (opens in a new tab)