Adrian Dix hangs out with two world champions

This morning, B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix will have a somewhat unusual campaign event.

He'll meet 11-year-old Jack Stuart, founder of the Jack of Hearts Foundation, at the main entrance of Hampton Park elementary school in Coquitlam.

Then Dix will shoot some hoops with Stuart and Coquitlam–Burke Mountain NDP candidate Chris Wilson.

Wilson, executive director of the youth-support group KidSport Tri-Cities, won two gold medals at the World Wrestling Championships and another gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

In 2009, I interviewed Stuart, who has Type 1 diabetes, just before the annual fundraising walk to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

He was only eight at the time, but was far more mature than his age. That's what Type 1 diabetes can do to kids—they have to grow up in a hurry so they can better manage their disease.

Stuart told me at the time that his Team Jack of Hearts team had raised $12,000 in the walk in 2008, and his goal was to top that in 2009.

In total, he and his supporters have raised more than $70,000 over the years, according to his website.

Dix, who has Type 1 diabetes himself, will, in effect, be hanging out with two world champions this morning.

The thing that struck me about Stuart when I met him back in 2009 was his incredible poise. We'll see if any of that rubs off on the B.C. NDP leader when he goes on TV tomorrow night for his televised debate.