Altamont Teen Joins in Hockey Fights Cancer with St Louis Blues
Pictured here is Karly Brummer (center), with Blues player Colton Parayko, and friend Serenity Parker (right).
BY MARK HOSKINS
In December of 2024, Karly Brummer, who was then a freshman at ACHS, received the horrible news of a positive cancer diagnosis. Karly was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her positive attitude along with the support of family, friends, and the community helped Karly to battle her cancer, and ended up with her being a part of a special night at the St. Louis Blues game last month.
Brummer designed a special edition hockey puck that was sold during the Hockey Fights Cancer night.
Following her diagnosis, Karly had to undergo chemotherapy treatments. She battled through five rounds of chemo at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “The worst part was the horrible reactions to the chemo I was receiving. But I found strength from my family, community, nurses, therapists, and other patients at the hospital,” said Karly.
After nearly a year-long battle, Karly was able to ring the bell on September 8, 2025.
During her stay at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Karly spent a lot of time with an art therapist. That therapist was presented with the opportunity to have a patient design a special hockey puck for the Hockey Fights Cancer game by the St. Louis Blues. Karly was the therapist’s first choice to design the puck.
“My inspirations for the hockey puck is from my battle against Leukemia and the hope to find more treatments and help cure all cancers,” stated Karly. “The heart represents all the love and support I received from my family, friends, community, nurses, doctors, therapists, and other cancer warriors during my treatment. The lavender color represents all types of cancer and is also my favorite color.”
The puck with Karly’s design was then produced in quantity and sold during the December 15 Hockey Fights Cancer game at Enterprise Center when the Blues faced the Nashville Predators. The pucks were all autographed by Blues players and all proceeds went toward funding a research grant for Siteman Cancer Center through the V Foundation.
Karly and her family were on hand at the game, which featured various fundraising efforts with the St. Louis Blues setting a goal of fundraising $200,000. Throughout the game, the Blues honored various cancer warriors in and around St. Louis, including former Blue Kelly Chase.
Karly received a special lavender Blues jersey with her name on the back and got to ride on the Zamboni as it scraped and cleaned the ice prior to puck drop.
Following the game, Karly and other cancer warriors were allowed to go down on the ice and got to meet some of the players. Blues defenseman and alternate captain Colton Parayko was Karly’s first choice to meet.
Karly has always enjoyed sports as she played volleyball and basketball in school. But she was never much of a hockey fan prior to going into the hospital. “Once I got to meet some of the players that came to visit every so often, that is when I started to become a Blues fan” said Karly. “Being able to meet the players and seeing all of my friends that were there was really special.”
