George Sipple, USA TODAY Sports 8:51 p.m. EST February 3, 2015

Hockey great Gordie Howe, part owner of the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants, looks on during a team news conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.(Photo: Darryl Dyck, AP)

Detroit Red Wings legend Gordie Howe has made such a dramatic recovery after having stem cell therapy in December in Tijuana, Mexico, that he's heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, this weekend for a dementia fundraiser involving Wayne Gretzky.

The Kinsmen Arena there will be renamed the Gordie Howe Kinsman Arena.

Dr. Murray Howe raced from Toledo, Ohio, to Lubbock, Texas, in late October, unsure whether his father, who had suffered a massive stroke, would still be alive when he got there. Gordie Howe was being cared for by his daughter, Cathy, and family members were advised to get there quickly if they wanted to see him again.

Murray Howe told the Detroit Free Press in a telephone interview Tuesday he was heading back to Lubbock on Wednesday to help accompany his father, along with other family members, to Saskatoon for the public appearance at a Friday night dinner.

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Gordie Howe's younger brother, Vic, who played for the New York Rangers in the 1950s, died Saturday at age 85 in Moncton, New Brunswick. Murray Howe said Gordie would not be able to attend his brother's funeral, but would be with two sisters, Helen and Vi, while in Saskatoon and the family would gather there for a memorial service for their brother.

Although the event in Saskatoon had been planned for more than a year, the Howe family told organizers in August that Gordie probably wouldn't be able to attend because of declining health. They definitely didn't think he'd be able to attend following a series of stokes that he had in the months that followed.

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Gordie Howe making dramatic recovery after stem cell therapy