One of the oldest boat shows in British Columbia turns 30 this weekend and organizers at the Vernon Yacht Club are using their platform to help ease the financial stress of a young family who recently found out some devastating news.

Almost 450 km away from their home in Vernon, 9-year-old, Henry Debowski, and his mother Bristol are at the B.C. Children鈥檚 Hospital in Vancouver.

A couple of week ago, Henry started feeling ill. It began with a loss of appetite, and then Henry became too tired to go outside and play with friends. His mother knew it was time to see a doctor when, a few days after losing his appetite, Henry lost all colour in his skin. Soon, Henry was diagnosed with Leukemia.

Because the cancer has not spread to his nervous system and because of his young age, Henry has a higher survival rate. With his mother by his side, he will spend the next seven months being treated with chemotherapy.

The often overlooked factor is the financial cost as Bristol, a single mother, will not be able to continue working while her son is in the hospital.

Hearing the news, many throughout the community have started to rally around the family: A has been launched and fundraising events are being organized.

Knowing that hundreds of people will be visiting the yacht club this weekend for the 30th annual Boat and Watersports Show, organizers said they knew they had a unique opportunity to help Henry and his mother.

鈥淭he Debowski family has been a large part of the Vernon community for a few generations,鈥� said VYC past commodore, Lawrence Johnson. 鈥淭he yacht club wants to try and help in the community and once we heard about this we knew we had to step up.鈥�

The boats show is free to the public, so organizers have decided the best way to raise money for the family at the event is to set up a table and sell raffle tickets. Organizers will also be advertising a follow-up event for the family to be held at the Elks Hall in Vernon on May 18, 2019 dubbed: 鈥淗enry vs Leukemia.鈥�

鈥淚 am glad that we have a strong community at the yacht club to do what we can to help,鈥� said Johnson.

Tickets for that event can be purchased at the Vernon Yacht Club and will feature several bands including The Goods, Becca T, The Bag Daddies and L.A. Johnson and friends.

As for Henry and his mom, they are determined to beat cancer.

Henry even shared this message on the Gofundme page: 鈥淎ny amount you could give us would be really appreciated and help relieve some of my Mom鈥檚 worries. I know she wants to be able to take me to do fun things on my 鈥済ood鈥� days and buy me Lego on days I鈥檓 sick of being in the hospital. Thank you for reading my story (feel free to share with others) and helping my family and me any way you can.鈥�

To read Henry鈥檚 full message or to donate to his Go Fund Me page, visit .

The Boat and Watersports Show runs this weekend (May 4 - 5) at the Vernon Yacht Club. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free and a shuttle service will be running every ten minutes from Marshall Field.

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