Seventeen-year-old Brenna Drought lost her mother on Tuesday, but was back on the ice curling with her team in the junior provincial championships in Langley Wednesday – because that’s what her mother would have wanted.
Andrea Drought, Brenna’s mom, was diagnosed a little more than a year ago when doctors discovered she had a tumor and soon after confirmed her cancer had spread to her liver.
Sadly, Mom’s health took a turn for the worst on Monday, and Brenna was called home.
The teen had been in Langley, playing third with the Vancouver Island’s Team Wilson during the 2017-18 Boston Pizza BC Junior Curling Championships at the Langley Curling Centre this week.
She rushed home to Mill Bay to be with her mother, who sadly passed away the next morning.
“My mom was the strongest person I knew, and she always encouraged me to finish what I started, so I decided to come back,” Brenna told the Langley Advance.
A curler herself, Andrea encouraged Brenna to get started, signed her up, and took her to every event when her daughter was starting out.
This is the teen’s third year curling, but her first year competing.
This summer, while at curling camp, Andrea had a health scare and Brenna went home. Her mother was upset by the move and ordered her daughter to return, to continue with the camp, and pursue her passion.
“She always encouraged me to finish what I started,” Brenna said just ahead of the debriefing after Wednesday night’s 9-4 loss to another Island team – Team Reese-Hansen.
Coming back, admittedly, wasn’t easy, Brenna said, leaving her younger and older brothers, and father behind on the Island.
But, she reiterated, this is what her mother would have wanted for her.
As the athletes stepped out on the ice Wednesday night, officials took a moment to explain Brenna’s situation and why all the players on all six sheets of ice were wearing a sticker that said “I wear pink in honour of Brenna & her mom,” and pink rubber bracelets saying “Find The Cure.”
Parents, coaches, supporters, and spectators gave Brenna what some officials called a “rousing ovation.”
As well, members of her team (including skip Kayla Wilson, second Loganne Bell, lead Sasha Wilson, and fifth Cassandra Blenkin, joined Brenna in painting their nails pink just an hour before Wednesday night’s game.
“I decided to dedicate every game I play to my mom,” Brenna said.
Meanwhile, Team Wilson is in last place out of the eight teams, and was set to play their final game Thursday morning.
