Newsletter Articles:
• Our Committment Continues
• Fit today for a better tomorrow
• Baby Jade's Journey of Hope
• A Celebration of Research
Fit today for a better tomorrow
Meet a donor who believes BIG STEPS is the first step towards a healthy lifestyle change.
When Trevor Doyle laced on his skates as a minor hockey player, obesity and its effects on children was likely the last thing on his mind. Hockey was Trevor's world and his focus was more on getting the puck into the net. Exercising and staying fit was a daily occurrence for him – something that came naturally.
Although drafted by the Florida Panthers in 1993, a career in the NHL just wasn't meant to be for Doyle. "I wasn't a very good hockey player, so I build homes now," says Doyle.
Although the NHL may have eluded Doyle, success certainly did not. As the owner of Doyle Homes, a custom home building and design service, Doyle humbly agrees that thing worked out well for him, thus allowing him to give back financially to his community. "I started a business 9 years ago and I have been relatively successful. Financially I was in a position to contribute."
Doyle's generous spirit and his desire to make a difference in the lives of children led him to make a $500,000 dollar gift to CHEO's BIG STEPS campaign. The donation was in turn matched by the CHEO Foundation, bringing its value to $1 million. This gift is specifically directed to the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (HALO) and will fund research into the prevention and treatment of obesity in children and youth. This exciting gift announcement took place on October 27th during the CHEO research institute's annual Research Day – a day dedicated to CHEO researchers and their outstanding work and contributions.
What leads someone to make this type of donation? "This is much more rewarding than any other material gains I have garnered as a result of my success in building homes," says Doyle. "I researched what I thought were some good causes in the community and I knew this was one that would impact a lot of people and affect them in a positive way."
As an athlete, Doyle knows first hand the benefits of a healthy active lifestyle. "I've been physically active my whole life," says Doyle. "The benefits of active living are so vast. It greatly maximizes my health and productivity."
Doyle agrees that the problem of obesity needs to be addressed today and with young children. "Childhood obesity affects a huge portion of the population and the effects are pretty broad," explains Doyle. "It makes sense to encourage healthy lifestyles early on and eliminate or reduce the likelihood of getting diseases associated with obesity in the future."
Why CHEO? "Kids have their whole life ahead of them," says Doyle. "Having the right health care facilities and resource in place for them is a priority and I want to be able to affect someone positively, early on in their life. That's important to me."
And while a hockey player's career is often short lived, the complete opposite can be said of investing into children's health research. Doyle understands that research is a long term commitment which will lead to a better tomorrow. "Today's treatments are all a result of research that was done in the past, whether it was done a year ago or 50 years ago," says Doyle. "The benefits are exponential down the road."