Photo: Contributed

The community has rallied around a young Kelowna boy after he was diagnosed with lymphoma this past weekend.

Carter Milaney, an energetic and active football player, has spent the majority of his young life in Kelowna.

Last weekend, he was medevaced to BC Children’s Hospital after becoming weak and having difficulty breathing.

He was later diagnosed with lymphoma, a blood cell tumour that develops from lymphatic cells.

Carter will be at BC Children’s hospital for the next two months undergoing chemotherapy.

“My understanding is that the lymphoma he has is very treatable, and he will undergo treatments for roughly about year, but that a full recovery is expected,” said Peter Hanenburg, a friend of the Milaney family through their church group.

Carter plays football with the Kelowna Lions, and playoffs are starting this Sunday. The Lions have a strong rivalry with their Sunday opponents, the Kelowna Riders.

“They’re very fierce competition,” Hanenburg said.

The two teams will be taking a picture together before the game, with a banner showing their support for Carter. Rather than stand as two separate teams, the boys will be mixed around the banner to show their solidarity.

“Apparently, I was talking to one of the football dads, that’s going to be very tough on them, to stand friendly,” Hanenburg said.

The entire league has started a fundraising campaign for Carter to help his family with medical expenses. The campaign will run in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Salmon Arm and wherever else playoff games are taking place.

“He’s huge into football,” Hanenburg said. “The football community is rallying behind this.”

In addition, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help Carter’s family pay for medical costs and flights to and from BC Children’s Hospital.

“It’s very likely that one of the parents won’t be able to work for almost the next year.”

The page has raised over $17,000 in just three days.

Hanenburg said while Carter’s diagnosis has definitely rocked their church group, they have all remained optimistic.

“In only a week he’s turned a corner and we know what it is and he’s receiving treatments and he’s responding well to the treatments and we are expecting recovery within a year, that’s all amazing, positive news,” he said. “Ultimately God provided a miracle here and restored his life and now we’re going to move forward.”