The Fife Lake Hotel has often held fundraisers and silent auctions in the past, such as in February of this year, when the pub and hotel organized a sale to support the Kinsmen Telemiracle. The Fife Lake Hotel is holding another charity event on September 21, to provide funds for Bennett Hansen and his family. Bennett is a three-week-old infant who was born in Regina with omphalocele – a condition when the internal organs in the abdominal area are growing outside of the body.
An omphalocele is a rare birth defect in which an infant's intestines or other abdominal organs have escaped the body through a hole in the navel area. The internal organs affected by the abnormality are covered by thin layers of tissue and can be viewed through ultrasound technology. In this case, Bennett’s liver subsists on the exterior of his body. Bennett was born after a planned C-section, when this physical aberration was discovered during an ultrasound examination.
Bennett is staying at the city’s hospital far from his home in Rockglen, but his mother is staying near him. Bennett’s father, Jesse Hansen, works at Young’s Equipment in Assiniboia. Ashley – Bennett’s mother – is a teacher in Assiniboia. Although the father had just returned to work, Ashley Mailloux has remained in Regina until Bennett is released from hospital, then he’ll continue to recover at home. He will have surgery to repair his omphalocele when he is 6 months to a year old at the direction of his surgeon.
“We’re doing a silent auction,” Deb Malesh said. “And we’re doing a live dessert auction too.” Malesh also said nearly everything for both auctions are donations from the community. The tickets for the auction running from 5-9 p.m. at the hotel are priced at $25 each. Tickets for the event can be purchased at the hotel or at Young’s Equipment in Assiniboia. The silent auction will include many prized items, such as four tickets for the Roughriders game on November 2 against the Edmonton Eskimos, which will include field access before the game begins.
