Islanders have fun while supporting families
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 12, 2026
The Hartman Field was packed Aug. 1 for the annual Team Heeb fundraiser. As eight teams battled through the softball tournament, islanders rallied around community members and families of community members who have been diagnosed with cancer. The nonprofit Team Heeb was co-founded by its namesake, Katie Heeb.
“Katie Heeb was my friend, and she would be absolutely flabbergasted at what this has turned into. She would not use those exact words, I imagine; however, I know she would be,” Boo Boo James told the crowd. “When I first got diagnosed, the first call I got was from Ashley [Dutton] from the Katie Heeb Foundation, and she offered to pay for my family to come over, or anything that I needed. I want you to know that for that moment in time, it made me feel like everything’s going to be okay. I don’t know what I would have done without this organization.”
She thanks cofounders Dutton, Sean Aylward, and all the volunteers before handing the microphone over to Melissa Deadman, who shared some of her cancer journey.
“Last year, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with stage three inflammatory breast cancer. On July 3, I found a lump in my armpit. I knew it was serious because I’d been having some mysterious symptoms for months,” Deadman told attendees. “My entire world came crashing down.”
She opted against standard care at first. Her mother came to help with Deadman’s two boys, while friends let her retreat to their guest house. “I faced the magnitude of my diagnosis, my fear of death, and perhaps most meaningfully of all, my true feelings. I knew I had to make some enormous changes in my life in order to live,” she said. “I had to come to terms with all my toxic coping mechanisms and shift gears to support my healing. It wasn’t unlike the way a caterpillar turns into goo in the cocoon before it comes back out as a butterfly.”
During her deep retreat, she gained clarity, she said. She needed chemo; she booked a hypnosis appointment to address some subconscious fears and said goodbye to her hair.
“It started with a cute cut by my best friend Natalie, followed up with a buzz cut from Finn, my 12-year-old.”
The primary reason, she said, she feels she has done so well is because of the support she has received to the GoFundMe and Team Heeb.
“Team Heeb gave me considerable financial assistance a few times throughout the year,” Wicky said, while her mom wrapped her in comfort and unconditional love.
“I used to identify as a helper, someone who others would come to when they needed support, mentally, emotionally, and physically,” Deadman told the crowd in closing. “Cancer forced me to accept the gift of vulnerability, to allow the love of all of you to flow into my life, keeping me afloat when so much was pulling me down. It is my belief that we are one, and then when we unite to help one another, anything is possible.”
Keep an eye out for more Team Heeb fundraisers this fall and winter, like their popular Bingo night. Next year, Orcas Island participants will be hosting a tournament on Orcas, of which all proceeds will go to Team Heeb. Look for more information about that as well.
To learn more, visit https://www.teamheebsji.org/.
