When the Good Guys Really Are Good Guys

(published in the Toronto Star Opinions Page on April 3, 2019)

by Craig Colby

You should cheer hard for the Maple Leafs in the playoffs this year, even if you don’t like hockey. Here’s why.

It’s Dec. 5. My oldest son Shane, 14, is two days out of surgery at Sick Kids hospital to fix a sinus infection that leaked into his brain. A piece of his skull has been removed. Twelve hours before, he couldn’t move his right side. Shane can barely open his swollen eyes. He moves his head sparingly and speaks a just few words at a time.

My wife Nancy tells me the Toronto Maple Leafs are visiting the hospital today. Shane may not be lucid enough to see the players, so I bring Shane’s and his 10-year-old brother Curtis’s hockey jerseys. Maybe we can get a picture of the players holding them.

I hand the jerseys to Alexis, who organizes the Leafs visit. She’ll do her best, but the players are in high demand. My attention is on Shane anyway. He’s still in ICU. In the early afternoon the nurse says to me, “The Maple Leafs will be here in one minute.”

I run over to my son. “Shane, the Maple Leafs are coming to see you.”

Shane tilts his head and widens his eyes. “Oh gosh!”

“Do you want this?”

“Yes!”

The nurse and I move the bed to face the door since the players can’t enter the room (only two visitors at a time). I look down the hall. Here come Frederik Andersen, Kasperi Kapanen, Travis Dermott and Zach Hyman in their blue jerseys. Alexis trails with our jerseys. The players look at Shane. Shane whips his head up and forces his eyes open.

“Hi,” they say.

“Hi,” Shane says.

Then he gives them a thumbs up. With his right hand.

I snap pictures of the players with both boys’ jerseys. When I try to thank them, nothing comes out. Zach Hyman pats my shoulder. I croak, “Thank you,” then they hand us two Maple Leaf gift bags, one for Shane and one for Curtis.

Alexis said that in 17 years on the job she had never seen anything like Shane’s reaction.

The encounter changed me. Before that moment I was a devoted Red Wings fan. My wife came later in the day to stay with Shane, and on the way home I bought a Leafs hat. I wore it during the next game when I cheered for the Leafs…. against the Red Wings. I never thought that would happen.

If that was our only involvement with the Leafs we’d still be fans for life. But it was just the start.

Weeks later, through Sick Kids, we receive tickets to a Maple Leafs game. Shane and one parent will meet the coach too. Unfortunately, Shane gets sick between the time I pick him up at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, where he has been transferred, and we met the coach.

Shane is pale when the coach’s door bursts open. “Shane Colby, I’m Mike Babcock.” The coach engages Shane, asking about his interests. We tell him Shane can’t stay for the game. Babcock says, “don’t you even worry about it. We’ll have you back. You can come to a practice too.”

Jason, a Leafs’ employee, gets a wheelchair and helps us back to the car. The next morning, Christine from the Leafs contacts us. We arrange tickets for March 11. When we pick them up at Sick Kids, Shane meets Auston Matthews, who happens to be there that day. The young superstar makes slime for the kids, shakes every hand and autographs everything in sight.

On game day, our family is invited to the Leafs practice. When we arrive, Christine presents Shane with a personalized Leafs jersey. We see Coach Babcock again that night. The coach remembers Shane and uses the time to get to know him. That night we cheer as loud as we can.

I ask Christine what we could do to thank the Leafs.

She says, “We just want to see him smile.”

Mission accomplished. For all of us. Shane is doing well, but when your child is sick, it’s like water on stone, the wear is gradual but constant. The clouds are not all dark, but the sky is grey. The Leafs put some sun in our lives.

The players have a special power. They can make people feel better just by being there. One nurse called it the medicine they don’t have.

I’m grateful they used their special powers on my special boys. We’ve got plenty of reasons to cheer. Most of them have little to do with hockey.

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Craig Colby is a television executive producer, producer, director, writer and story editor. He runs a storytelling consulting and production service for businesses. Craig can be reached at craig@colbyvision.net.