On the evening of August 24th, the Listowel Ag Fairgrounds hosted an inspirational night with Kaleb Dahlgren, a survivor of the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6th, 2018.

Kaleb was brought to Listowel by the local Ag Society and Trillium Mutual Insurance to share his story, not just as a Humboldt Bronco, but as a diabetic since childhood. Jenny Hallahan from Trillium says when they were approached to get involved, she felt it was a perfect thing to get involved with.

“Listowel is such a great hockey town, it’s a small town where people really care about each other, and at Trillium we just felt it was important to give back so that some people would have the opportunity to hear his message.”

Hundreds of people bought tickets and came out to the event, where Dahlgren spoke for almost 2 hours telling his story and answering questions before heading into the Ag Hall for a lengthy book signing session. All this while he had an 8 a.m. class the following morning. Despite that early alarm clock, Dahlgren stayed well past 11 p.m., ensuring every single person who waited in line got their book signed, a photo taken, and in many instances a few moments to chat and share thanks.

Hallahan says it was amazing to work with the Ag Society to make the event happen.

“The Ag Society and Hall did a ton of work to put this all together, and we had a few Trillium volunteers who came out and helped with the set up and putting everything up, but the Ag Society and Hall was fantastic and really important when it came to getting this all together.”

All the funds raised from the event are going to a great cause, Hallahan adds, and that included sales of Dahlgren’s book “Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco.”

“The funds from this are going to Camp Huronda in Huntsville, so that’s to send some children with diabetes to this special camp, and there were some really interesting people I met tonight, nurses and doctors, who have a part in that camp and shared why it’s so important for those children. It was really interesting to hear their stories.”

Dahlgren himself runs his own diabetes outreach initiative called Diabeauties, which can be found on his website http://KalebDahlgren.com.

Listowel Ag Society President, Elizabeth Johnston, says their board knew they had to bring Kaleb to town after hearing him speak at a Beef Farmers meeting last year.

“Some of us had heard his message last winter, and it was truly inspirational, he is an amazing person, and we wanted our community to hear Kaleb’s message. We wanted to have that message shared and have diabetics, and in particular juvenile diabetics in our community, know that they aren’t alone, and know that someone else has travelled through that, and ultimately, great things can happen.”

Johnston says she hopes people left the event feeling hopeful and with a renewed sense of positivity.

“I think I hope that everyone that was here left inspired, and left with that message of ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me.’”

During his talk, Dahlgren talked about finding the positive in negative situations, sharing numerous anecdotes from his childhood experiences with his illness, family struggles, and of course, the events of and following April 6th, 2018. Dahlgren stated that “all our situations in life are 10 percent what happens to you, and 90 percent how you react to that.” His story and experiences, laid bare for all to hear at the event, are a crystal clear example of that.

Readers may be wondering, “Hey, where are the quotes in this story from Kaleb?”

The simple answer is, yours truly had an opportunity to sit and chat with Kaleb for an interview on the sports talkshow “Instigating with Clarkey and Drury” recently, which was shared on our CKNXNewsToday.ca page leading up to the event. Also, as mentioned, Kaleb had a lengthy line of eager people to meet and sign books for, and an early alarm set for class. If you’d like to listen to that interview, you can find that here: https://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/2022/08/16/humboldt-bronco-kaleb-dahlgren-coming-speak-listowel/.

If you’d prefer to watch it, visit the Instigating show page here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVzqWcnKw1I&t=446s

Hundreds of spectators file into seats at the Listowel Ag Fairgrounds to watch the inspirational speech delivered by Humboldt Broncos bus crash survivor and lifelong diabetic, Kaleb Dahlgren, just before he took the stage. August 24th, 2022 (Photo by Ryan Drury)

Following his message of hope and resilience for the gathered crowd at the Listowel Ag Fairgrounds, Kaleb Dahlgren awaits a lengthy line of people for a book signing that took place in the adjacent Ag Hall that went well out the door. August 24th, 2022 (Photo by Ryan Drury)