The power of sport was on full display in Regina on Friday afternoon.
 
Dawn Dwyer, a 53-year-old from Saskatoon who suffered a stroke in August 2010, had the chance to meet one of her heroes — Stamps QB Henry Burris.
 
The meeting was an emotional moment for Dawn, whose eyes welled up with tears as Henry greeted her.
 
“I have been so excited to meet you,” said Dawn, a lifelong Stampeders fan, as Henry gave her a brand new red Stamps hat. “When my brother told me yesterday, I was just so excited.”
 
Dawn has lost all of her memories prior to the stroke and, immediately after it happened, had trouble recognizing family members including her husband Dave. But, for some reason, she still identified her favourite sports team.
 
One day, as Dawn lay in her hospital bed, her husband was reading the sports section of the newspaper when Dawn pointed and said “Yucky.” After some back-and-forth, Dave realized that Dawn was pointing to a picture of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
 
Later, Dawn was asked who her favourite team was. She replied: “Horsies.”
 
Dawn’s brother Jim Fleming wrote an email to the Stampeders, explaining that Dawn had the mental capacity of a five-year-old. Over the course of the last year, however, she has shown many signs of improvement. She has gone from communicating with single words to putting together full sentences, something that was evident when she met Burris.
 
Dawn and Dave — who, by the way, is a Roughriders fan — will be at Stamps-Riders game at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday night. While the Stamps fully expect a sea of green to greet them tomorrow night, Henry and his teammates know there will be at least one person wearing red in the stands. Dawn told Henry she will proudly wear her Stamps jersey Saturday night.