Champion for Charity Haley McIntosh saw ‘out-of-this-world’ care for son Wyatt at McMaster Children’s Hospital
By Jeff Hicks
CALEDONIA —
Haley McIntosh, professional number-cruncher and mother of two, will be terrified.
But her slow, sombre march to the squared circle will be punctuated by an entrance dirge — Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down — for her Champions for Charity opponent.
The April 4 Brawl at Tapestry Hall before a live gathering of 400-plus is almost upon us.
“Forget about getting in the ring and somebody punching me,” said McIntosh, a Royal Bank financial planner who eschews the typical techno-beat walk-up tune for the Man In Black with a biblical wallop. “Going down that red carpet and walking into that ring in front of hundreds of people is terrifying.”
McIntosh, 41, has been terrified before.
Eight years ago, her oldest son Wyatt spent nearly a month in McMaster Children’s Hospital being treated for a rare auto-immune condition that threatened his heart.
McIntosh and husband Neil — long before Haley became one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 business leaders and community champions training for a boxing debut in support of MacKids — witnessed the incredible care Wyatt was given by McMaster’s team of medical professionals.
Blood infusions. Steroids. Antibiotics. So many blood draws.
And an array of video games to make Wyatt, given a Western-style name to suit his Alberta birth, as comfortable as possible. Stubborn and steadfast, like his mom, Wyatt endured it all.
“We saw the whole gamut,” McIntosh said.
They also saw McMaster’s impressive army of specialists, including rheumatologists and cardiologists, swing into action for Wyatt. Haley and Neil, who manages a fire alarm company, watched their distress dissipate.
“The amount of expertise McMaster can draw from is just out-of-this-world,” McIntosh said.
So is the Champions for Charity fundraising ferocity — collecting over a million dollars for MacKids, including three black-tie, Vegas-style fight nights since 2019.
This edition has already surpassed $580,000 for the cause.
These days, 13-year-old Wyatt is a punishing force on the ice for his Haldimand hockey team.
“He’s out there on the ice crushing it,” Macintosh said of Wyatt. “You would never know he had anything wrong.”
His brother Gunnar, 10, is a house league puck hound when the two aren’t out dirt biking.
“If you ask my husband, he’ll say Wyatt is just like me,” said McIntosh, who drew the boxing nickname Hurricane for her calm-after-the-storm demeanour. “That’s why the two of us clash quite often. The youngest is our Wild Card. He keeps us on our toes.”
McIntosh likes to stay on her fitness toes too.
She wore a big first-base mitt in baseball as a teen. She has dabbled in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. She has treaded lightly in running. Bent a little with Yoga. Cranked up the intensity with CrossFit. Now, for three long months, boxing has been her sole jam.
“I think the hardest thing for me was just focusing on one thing,” she conceded.
“I do get bored.”
To support Haley, click here.
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