Peterborough's Luke Heard Is 27 Years Old, He Was Just Diagnosed With Lung Cancer

Luke Heard

UPDATE (November 30th):

A benefit has been planned for Luke Heard at Trentwinds International Centre on Friday, January 6th, starting at 8 pm. Details on this Facebook event page.

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ORIGINAL POST

Luke Heard is well known in Peterborough for constantly giving back to community—from raising money for special needs hockey to helping families in need with his Halloween Haunted Houses. In October 2013, he was a hero, pulling a woman from a burning van in Peterborough.

Luke has a tremendous spirit for community and helping others. And now, the Peterborough community is rallying behind him as he deals with the heartbreaking news that at age 27, he has lung cancer.

He wrote the following in a heartfelt Facebook post on Monday (November 28th)...

Luke Heard skating with Electric City Maroon & White special needs team

"My friends are the people who hold me up when I can't go any further and my family is the key to helping me stay positive," Heard tells PTBOCanada. "If I didn't have any of them, I would be alone and left to fight this struggle by myself."

Heard tells PTBOCanada he smoked for eight years, but quit two weeks ago, and the doctors aren't sure if it's smoke related. "I go for surgery this week to determine everything and see how bad it is," he tells PTBOCanada.

Luke has lost a dramatic amount of weight in the past month and a half (picture via his Facebook page)

Luke wrote this in an earlier Facebook post about his health, accompanying the above "before and after" photos:

Luke tells PTBOCanada his favourite quote of all time:

"Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back."

Luke Heard embodies that quote. Our prayers are with him through this battle.

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