The 25th edition of the STARS Lottery Alberta was kicked off Thursday at the Red Deer Airport.

The launch included a STARS helicopter making a landing, and the story of 9 year old Jayden Sorsdahl, who at the age of 6 had his life saved by STARS when he came down with a sudden and serious illness. He was also reunited with the paramedic, Ken King, who helped save his life that day.

His parents took him into the Red Deer hospital after he became sick in their home in March of 2015, and within an hour staff knew they had to make the call, his mom Melanie remembers.

“Time was of the essence, if STARS wasn’t here, I don’t think Jayden would be either. He was failing very quickly, and the E.R. in Red Deer did what they could, but without STARS, he probably would not be standing here today.”

Jayden says when he grows up, he wants to work for STARS, and help people who are hurt and sick, just like how they helped him.

This year includes three grand prize show homes in Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge, but for the first time in the 25 year history, there will not be one in Red Deer.

Vice president of Operations for STARS in Alberta and Saskatchewan Mike Lamacchia says the decision was made after they received feedback saying participants wanted different kinds of prizes.

“We reached out to our supporters and we wanted to refresh and enhance our lottery, so we asked them, ‘what would do you want to see?’ and people were really focused on cash prizes. People love the house, but then they win the house and it’s in a location they don’t want, then they got to sell it, so people said, ‘why don’t you just make it a dream prize, like half a million dollars or something’, so that’s what we did.”

This year they are offering more than three thousand prizes, with a value of $4.7 million.

Tickets for the lottery are already 50% sold, and their 50/50 draw is already 66% sold,

For tickets, you can go starslotteryalberta.ca, or call 1-888-880-0992. Early bird draw is March 16th, with ticket cut-off on February 28th. All final draws will be held on April 12th, with ticket sales cut-off on March 22nd.

(Jayden and paramedic Ken King, who was on board when Jayden was transported from Red Deer to Calgary back in March of 2015)