From one little girl to a million-dollar movement: the story behind WRHN Foundation’s Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic
Patient Story
When the Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic began in 2022, Brian Santos had no idea how big the tournament would become – or how much of an impact it would have on children and families across Waterloo Region.
His daughter Scottie, the namesake behind the tournament, was just two years old at the time, and only a few months removed from a cancer journey that had her family travelling back and forth from Hamilton for her treatment.
It was that travel burden that inspired WRHN Foundation’s Scotland’s Yard campaign. And it continues to drive the event today.
Sat. July 11 marks the fifth anniversary of the Road Hockey Classic – a signature foundation event that has netted more than $1 million for kids care at Waterloo Regional Health Network.
“I can’t tell you how lucky I feel seeing how much this hockey tournament has grown,” Brian says. “When it first started, I thought it would be a small event in the back of a church parking lot. Now we have more than 80 teams; we have NHL players and PWHL players taking part; we have so many people coming out to support."
It’s truly incredible. It just shows you the power of community.
The long road to care
Scottie was three months old when her parents, worried about her breathing, took her to the emergency department at WRHN @ Midtown. A chest X-ray revealed a mass that was putting pressure on her lungs.
The family was sent to MacKids in Hamilton, where Scottie was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
“That’s when everything changed,” Brian says.
Over the next several months, Scottie went through round after round of chemotherapy in Hamilton. She spent two months there as an inpatient, then continued out-patient chemo treatment in cycles. She still goes to Hamilton for some follow-up care.
The family made roughly 200 trips in total from their Kitchener home to the Hamilton hospital. On many of those trips, Scottie would get sick in the car following treatment.
“It got to a point where anytime we’d drive into Hamilton I would start to cry because I knew she’d be going through chemo and the travel made her feel so much worse,” Brian says.
“Then we’d go to WRHN @ Midtown for her bloodcounts and other smaller treatments and I remember thinking: ‘wow, going to our local hospital is so much easier.’
We shouldn’t have to travel so much when kids need care.
Scoring big for kids
Over the last five years, the Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic has operated on the mission of bringing care closer to home for children and families.
The idea for the Scotland’s Yard campaign began with a conversation between Scottie’s mom, Joy Stewart, and her friends Jackie Sieber and Carol Channer. Together, they approached WRHN Foundation.
The hockey tournament, co-chaired by one of Joy’s best friends Jacqueline Chiarot and her husband, Detroit Red Wings defenceman Ben Chiarot, has helped fund significant equipment and kids programming needs at WRHN, including a PET-CT scanner expected to go live in 2027.
The 2026 event focuses on a new pediatric echocardiogram for WRHN’s kids cardiac clinic. The special ultrasound allows doctors to see a child’s heart without pain, needles, or radiation.
A new echo would allow more children and families to get the crucial heart scans and cardiac consultations they need, without a long drive to another city.
“If this hockey tournament can make another family’s journey a little easier, I’d take great comfort in that because I know how hard it is,” Brian says.
Having a child who’s sick is challenging enough; when you have to leave your city to get the care your kid needs, it just adds an unfair burden.
A future filled with cartwheels
Today, Scottie is a healthy six-year-old who’ll start Grade 2 in September.
She excels in gymnastics, amazing her father daily with her cartwheels and somersaults – just a few years after her treatment left her unable to walk at times.
“I feel so lucky and proud that she’s doing so well,” Brian says. “Sometimes I look back and I don’t know how we did it. Leaving our community for care was so difficult."
"But that’s why I’m so proud of WRHN Foundation and Scotland’s Yard for what we’ve done with this tournament, and I’m so proud of the community for continuing to rally behind this cause."
We need kids’ care close to home, and we need the community’s help to get that.
Support the fifth annual Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic on July 11.
Make an impact with an online donation or by joining us at The Boardwalk to support the players and cheer on your favourite team.
Let your experience inspire others.
Whether you’re a patient, family member, donor, event participant or proud WRHN staff, sharing your story and connection to Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) is a powerful way to show how donations impact our community in real, tangible ways.
