Hip concert 'etched on my heart,' says fan with same cancer as Gord Downie

A Moncton man who has the same brain cancer as Tragically Hip frontmanGord Downie says being in the audience for band's tour finale in Kingston on Saturday is "etched on my heart."

Jason DeRoche was given two of the hard-to-come-by tickets for the final showafter hiswife made a plea on Facebook for tickets for her husband, a long-time fan.

"It's an unbelievable memory that is etched on my heart and I will never be able to forget it,"DeRoche said of Saturday's sold-out performance.

• Hip fan with same cancer as Gord Downie seeks tickets to sold out show

DeRochemade it home toMoncton from the concert at 1:30 a.m.Monday, so he didn't get much sleep before his appointment a few hours later at the Moncton Hospital.

"I kept thinking and reliving the moment and then I had radiation therapy at 8:30 [a.m.]this morning."

Same cancer as Downie

DeRochehasglioblastoma, thesame incurable brain cancer asDownie.

DeRochesaid he didn't mind losing sleep to travel to Kingston and back over the weekend because beingat theconcert watched by an estimated one-thirdof Canadians did more for his morale and strength than a few hours of restever could.

• Millions watch Tragically Hip live on CBC
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After DeRoche's story was posted on Facebook and picked up on by CBC,Paul Fay, the brother of HipdrummerJohnny Fay, contacted the 39-year-old DeRoche and offered him thetickets.

DeRoche said he will never forget the gesture.

"Saturday morning, the morning of the concert,Paul Fay calls us and says, you know, 'I have the tickets,can you meet me in the hotel lobby,'" said DeRoche.

"And I'm trying not to give him a big hug," said DeRoche."I'm just shaking his hand and I'm in tears and he's getting a little choked up and then, it became real."

Inspiration from Downie

In the weeks leading up to Saturday'sconcert, DeRoche said he sometimes felt down. He suffered loss of feeling on one side of his body, and wasn't motivated to do the exercises his doctor prescribed.He said that changed after watching Downie's performance from the firststop on thetour in Victoria.

"He's 52 years old he's dancing around on stage with all this energy. I'm 39, what's my problem?" said DeRoche.

"It really inspired for me to push harder and push harder and push harder, and all last week, we practiced to stand up for two hours and we ended up standing for six hours with everything that was going on."

VIP party

DeRoche didn't get to meet Downieat the VIP party afterthe concertlike he'd hoped, but there was at least one famous face there.

"We did see Prime Minister Trudeau, being very cool."

Now that all the excitement is over,DeRoche has two more weeks of radiation therapyand expects to continue chemotherapy treatments for the rest of the year.

But he said being there in person when his favouriteband tookthe stage andplayed 50 Mission Cap, was the best therapy of all.

"I felt like teenager again when I first heard the song and people singing, 7,000 people singing every word to every song belting it out as loud as they can, it was, it was such a collective experience but a personal one at the same time."

"This has been the experience of a lifetime, I'll never forget it."