Alberta boy with prosthetic leg gets trip to Toronto to watch Blue Jays

[This screenshot taken from MLB’s YouTube page shows Roan Heck, centre, flanked by his parents during his trip to Seattle in July 2015. MLB/YouTube]

A young Canadian boy enjoyed a few hours he’ll never forget when he watched his beloved Toronto Blue Jays play live at the Rogers Centre for the first time.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened,” Roan Heck gushed to Global News after the Wednesday night game.

It would have been a big deal for any eight-year-old baseball fan, but for Heck, the event had special significance.

When Roan was a baby, he lost his left leg in a lawnmower accident, but that didn’t deter the Albertan from becoming a huge baseball fan.

Roan visited Seattle last year to get a new prosthetic leg, which was decorated with the Blue Jays logo. The youngster had the chance to catch a Jays game and brought along his device with hopes of getting it signed by Toronto slugger Edwin Encarnacion. The first baseman happily complied, and then did one better by getting the entire Jays roster to sign the artificial limb.

“It was pretty cool,“ the child told CBC News.

Roan has been rocking the one-of-a-kind leg for the past year and he finally got the opportunity to see his team play at home in Toronto thanks to former Jays third baseman Kelly Gruber, who arranged to have the family’s expenses covered.

“Sometimes these tragedies, you’re not exactly sure where it’s going to go,” Roan’s father, Neil Heck, told Global News. “But this one has led to so many opportunities, and it makes you realize life goes on and good things happen from things that seem like misfortune.”

How excited was Roan to get into the game? He was literally the first person in line to enter the stadium when the gates opened Wednesday.