Firefighter rock band hold charity performance for fellow man

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Mike Fleming doesn't golf, so when he overheard his fellow firefighters planning a charity tournament for their cancer-stricken brethren, the seasoned musician opted to rock rather than swing.

"I was at a training session and some of the guys were talking about his situation - that he had to pay a ton of money out of his own pocket for his cancer treatments," the ten-year veteran of south Etobicoke's Rescue 435 said. "It was an outrageous amount."

It was $30,000 to be exact.

Cam Haunton of north Etobicoke's Rescue 412 was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006. After surgery, doctors thought they had removed all of the cancerous cells and he returned to work. But in a routine scan this January they found an additional spot on his liver.

What followed was another procedure to remove a quarter of the diseased organ and six months of chemotherapy treatments, he said. He was also advised by Cancer Care Ontario, the provincial agency responsible for continually improving cancer services, to take Avastin, a drug that helps prevent tumour cells from creating their own blood supply.

"A six-month supply costs $30,000," Haunton said, noting that every two weeks he's had to shell out $2,500. "That's not covered by either my benefits or by OHIP... I'm on my own now."

Inspired by the golf tournament held for Haunton in April, Fleming decided to pick up his guitar rather than a golf club to help out. And with a 25-year history as a touring musician (with both Pat Travers and Hotel California) and as the founder and leader of Toronto Firefighters' new rock band Backdraft, he was well positioned to rally his colleagues for a benefit concert.

The event, held last Friday at Hollywood on The Queensway drew a large crowd of firefighters, their family and friends, regulars of the nightclub and a grateful Haunton himself.

"When all is said and done - between the golf tournament, my colleagues picking up my missed shifts on their off days, and now the concert - firefighters have raised about $20,000 for me," he said. "Not having to worry about that part of it, putting that concern out of my head, it's been a big relief."

The concert itself, he said, was a great night and one he was happily able to attend in order to shake the hands of the classic rock/rockabilly/blues band, which is comprised primarily of Fleming and Etobicoke Pumper 443's Dave McNamara.

"I can't even think of another profession that's like firefighting. It's a brotherhood," he said. "I owe an eternal gratitude to these guys. What they've done for me, for my family...it'll never be forgotten."