TUCKER x ZUCKER

When Tucker Helstrom was 9 years old, he was a patient at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. At the time, he was battling osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

Tucker was a lifelong hockey fan, so he was excited to find out he would be receiving a visit from a player on the Minnesota Wild that day. He didn’t know who the player would be, but he wrote a letter that he was going to give to whoever visited him. He was going to ask that this letter be passed along to his favorite player: Jason Zucker. 

It turns out that Tucker was able to give Jason this letter himself, and it was the beginning of a fast friendship. The NHL forward and 9 year old hockey fan got to know one another and continued a friendship. 

Tucker passed away in 2016. Inspired by their friendship, Jason and his wife Carly started the GIVE16 campaign. GIVE16 supports the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital and programs for young patients like Tucker.

You can see the full story from this video made for GIVE16's collaboration with UNRL