Ethan Ruiz, a 19-year-old diagnosed with leukemia in 2024, received a newly renovated home through the Building Hope for Kids partnership. The initiative includes Flyers Charities, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and Michael’s Way, a nonprofit supporting children with pediatric cancer.
Ruiz requested his bedroom be “Dr. Doom green.” Construction began in January, and this week he and his mother, Mayra Carrer, saw their rebuilt two-story row home for the first time. The renovations feature a new living room and kitchen on the first floor, an upstairs area dedicated to Carrer, and a basement apartment for Ruiz that includes his bedroom, bathroom, gaming area, and gym.
Fastrack Construction managed the rebuild while design work was led by wives and girlfriends of Philadelphia Flyers players, coaches, and executives. Alex Sanheim participated in designing Ruiz’s space.
“We didn’t get a lot of direction other than he wanted it to be moody, and he loves gaming, so we kind of tried to tie all that in together,” said Sanheim. “He gave us a couple posters to pick from. And other than that, it was just kind of working with what we thought would be the palate. And I think we seemed to nail it pretty well. It was just moody and green and black and gaming. So I feel like it all tied together really well.”
Ruiz expressed gratitude after seeing his new living quarters.
“They understood the assignment completely,” he said. “Sending them links to designs that I like, and coming in and seeing those designs up there, it feels like not something they did out of obligation, but out of pure love and appreciation and wanting to do good for the community.”
Flyers Charities board chair Blair Listino worked on Carrer’s upstairs area along with Joan Hilferty and Misha Briere.
“They’re from Puerto Rico originally, so we tried to incorporate some of that,” Listino said. “We tried to bring the outdoors in because she loves plants and nature. She was very emotional.”
The kitchen redesign involved several others connected with Flyers players or staff: Laurence Couturier (Sean Couturier), Karly Konecny (Travis Konecny), Hailey St. Mary (Nick Seeler), Brooke Juulsen (Noah Juulsen), Bonnie Dillabaugh (Kim Dillabaugh), Dana Flahr (Brent Flahr).
Players joined their families at the reveal despite having played against Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
“She’s been putting in countless hours, 10- and 12-hour days over here making sure that it’s finished in time,” Travis Sanheim said about his wife’s efforts. “Just really proud of her and what she’s done to get this space the way that it looks.
“To see the family’s face as they walk in—it was super exciting—and I’m proud to be a part of it. All the credit goes to her and what she was able to do, and the rest of the wives and Flyers Charities for making this happen.”
Carrer described her feelings about receiving help after moving from Puerto Rico as a child:
“Just to see the kindness, the time, the details,” she said. “You don’t expect things like this to happen. A year-and-a-half ago when he got his diagnosis I couldn’t even think straight… So just to have so many people that I’ve never met before want to help… I’m overwhelmed.
“I’ve always wanted to do repairs but I don’t think I even could have imagined some of these repairs… It exceeded my expectation.”
The Philadelphia Flyers are known for supporting community programs such as cancer awareness initiatives alongside their role as an NHL team providing professional ice hockey entertainment.
