ThoroldNews received the following open letter from Jay Egerter:
As most people in our community know, Adam was diagnosed with brain cancer last year. It was unclear if he would be able to continue with his passion of playing hockey last fall. Adam was determined to follow his passion and chose to play in his home town of Thorold for the 2018-2019 season. His future in hockey was unclear to his mother and I, as the intensive treatments of radiation and chemotherapy took a debilitating toll on our son. He has suffered permanent hearing loss, partial vision issues, loss of dexterity and some loss of coordination. But one thing this horrible disease could not take from him was his heart! My son loves hockey!
After nearly freezing to death during his first skate for team allocation, he now has a pre-ice ritual to get ready to skate. He wears extra socks and toe warmers to keep his feet warm. He wears cold weather hockey under gear clothing to keep his core temperature up. He uses hot packs in his gloves to keep his fingers from going numb and freezing. And he wears a buff under his helmet to try and retain some of the body heat from escaping from his head. But in spite of all he has to do just to be able to play, he still loves this game! Even though he has some trouble getting up for school some days, he is always willing to get up on any given weekend at 6:30 a.m. to hit the ice for a game or practice.
We know and he knows that he is not the fastest kid out there and will probably never win a scoring title, but his coaches never used that against him. They kept him on regular lines and kept him in the game. The kids on the team always encouraged my son to continue and all the parents always rooted for him. An away tournament victory in Woolwich earlier in the season and the recent win at an away tournament in Aurora, capped off a Cinderella season for my son. I could not have asked for a more caring group of coaches to guide my son through this season. I also could not have asked for a more loving and caring set of parents to be involved with. The experience was new for all involved. The entire Blackhawks organization, the kids and the parents all showed the love, compassion and understanding that my son needs to tackle his recovery moving forward.
I am forever indebted to you all.
As long as my son has a beating heart, a smile on his face going onto and coming off the ice, he will continue to thrive and love this game! His game.
Sincerely,
Jay Egerter
NO ONE FIGHTS ALONE
