Yoga classes to support Make-A-Wish, remember late teen

“I’ve always been passionate about it, but the reason I wanted to do this was just to honour my son by creating this fundraising initiative to give back to the community, and support the causes that were so important to him during his journey.”

Those causes are Make-A-Wish and Camp Kindle – the latter being a summer camp near Water Valley, Alberta, which is almost exclusively for kids dealing with life-altering cancer diagnoses, but often their siblings.

Nathan was a young athlete, super into soccer, and even more so basketball.

Nathan (second from right) with his family (mom Kate, sister Emily, and dad Chris), and Dwayne Johnson (centre) while in Hollywood, summer 2025.

In June 2024, at the young age of 13, Nathan was playing indoor soccer when he began complaining of leg pain.

“We thought, ‘Oh, it’s just your kicking leg,’ or ‘You’re going through a growth spurt.’”

The pain wouldn’t cede, so Nathan underwent an MRI, which determined he had cancer throughout his body.

He was ultimately diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a type of pediatric bone and tissue cancer, similar to the type Terry Fox had.

He’d spend the bulk of the year to come at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, undergoing a small, but excruciating handful of chemotherapy treatments that left him without hair and very thin, his mother tells.

“It was a weird thing. We didn’t know if it was genetic or what… no one in my family or my husband’s family has had cancer, so it’s hard to know where it came from,” says Fletcher.

Ewing sarcoma accounts for about one per cent of childhood cancers, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS also notes it is not genetic in that it is passed down, and that there are no known environmental or lifestyle-related causes of the gene changes that lead to Ewing sarcoma.

Per the Canadian Cancer Society, which says to interpret these numbers carefully, the five-year observed survival rate for Ewing sarcoma in children 0-14 is 79 per cent, but that’s for those whose cancer hasn’t metastasized, as Nathan’s had.

The five-year survival rate then drops to a range of 20-39 per cent.

By grace, Nathan’s final months were not wholly filled with gloom and despair.

Tests in January 2025 showed Nathan’s cancer had entirely disappeared; he was in remission.

His hair grew back, he put on weight again, and he could, at long last, return to Grade 8 at Central Middle School. He’d later spend just a couple of weeks in Grade 9 at Lindsay Thurber, where Emily goes.

Sadly, tests in August 2025 showed the cancer had returned, and that’s when Make-A-Wish Canada stepped in.

After some paperwork was done, and thanks to advocacy from Dr. Pascale Grimard at Alberta Children’s Hospital, Nathan, now 14, soon found himself in Los Angeles, arm-wrestling with none other than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

Nathan on his private tour of the L.A. Lakers practice facility, courtesy Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

“Not only did he get a 40-minute meet and greet, but Dwayne sent us to the L.A. Lakers practice facility; Nathan got to see Lebron James’ locker and play on the court. It was phenomenal,” she says of the September trip down.

“It’s part of the reason I’m so impressed with this charity; I got to see firsthand that when you donate money, it goes to giving kids these wishes and giving them happiness and joy for what time they have left.”

Fletcher says Johnson also made it rain for her son with a boatload of merch, including an Xbox and shoes, which the teen then distributed among his best friends upon returning home.

Fletcher says Johnson was “the nicest man,” who simply loves helping kids have their moment.

The former sports entertainer, turned one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, also sent them to a restaurant called Mastro’s, where the family of four was treated “like kings and queens.”

Nathan Fletcher passed away Nov. 21, 2025

Yoga sessions, led by Kate Fletcher and her colleague Tori Rockwell, run from 7-8 p.m., every Tuesday and Thursday through August, beginning June 9, at Heritage Square Park downtown, next to the Red Deer Museum and Norwegian Laft Hus.

Donations will go to both Make-A-Wish and Camp Kindle, and participants can learn more about Nathan’s story.

The average wish granted through Make-A-Wish costs $10,000. Online donations to the M-A-W campaign for Nathan can be made here. Online donations for the Camp Kindle campaign can be made here.

by Josh Hall

Yoga classes to support Make-A-Wish, remember late teen

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