Hockey Fights Cancer
November 2, 2009 by Colin
Filed under Family, Helping others
In support of Hockey Fights Cancer and all of those in the office supporting Movember, a good story below to remind you of what you have.
Laperriere carries dad’s spirit years after cancer battle
Thursday, 10.29.2009 / 2:06 PM / NHL Community
By Chuck Gormley – NHL.com Correspondent
Philadelphia Flyers right wing Ian Laperriere saw his teammates gather with their fathers for a group photo following a recent game and felt his heart ache.
The Flyers conducted their annual Father-Son road trip to Washington this week, and although more than six years have passed since his father lost his valiant battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 55, Laperriere still feels his loss.
“It was hard when he passed and it’s still hard today,” the 35-year-old Laperriere said. “I still wish he could be here.”
November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and with the NHL’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” campaign under way, Laperriere often reminds his teammates how fortunate they are to have their fathers.
“I tell the young guys, ‘Enjoy, I wish I could do that with my dad now.’ When you’re young you don’t think you’re ever going to lose your dad. So I tell them to enjoy him because you never now what can happen.”
A former football and hockey player, Michel Laperriere was 52 and enjoying dinner with Ian and his wife, Magali, when Ian first noticed his father’s skin was discolored.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Laperriere said. “We were in my house having dinner and I turned around and said, ‘Dad, your skin’s yellow.’ My Mom said, ‘I told you, Michel.’”
Michel Laperriere met with a specialist two days later and was told he might have cancer of the pancreas.
“That shocked everybody, but as a doctor you just can’t sugar-coat it,” Laperriere said. “Unfortunately, the doctor was right. It was one of those moments you don’t wish on anybody, but it’s part of life, I guess. You always think that happens to other families and you don’t want to think it can happen to you.”
Laperriere said he and his wife immediately went on their computer and looked up pancreatic cancer on the Internet. They learned that less than 30 percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live more than three years and less than five percent survive five years.
“That crushed us even more,” Laperriere said.
Michel Laperriere, a longtime supervisor for Kraft Foods in Montreal, was placed on chemotherapy and stunned his doctors by going into remission for two years.
“He felt great,” Laperriere recalled.
It was in November 2002, when he was with the Los Angeles Kings, that Laperriere first noticed his father’s condition worsening. The Laperrieres had just had their first of two sons, Tristan, and Ian booked a flight for his father to come to L.A. to see his new grandson.
“Right away, when he got off the plane he looked tired,” Laperriere said. “I’m thinking, ‘Well, the man’s been through a lot the last couple years. But he was tired more than I’d ever seen my dad. He couldn’t walk a few feet without being out of breath. He didn’t have the energy to play with his grandson.”
Laperriere took his father to the Kings’ team physician, who saw that his blood count was low. Michel Laperriere underwent a blood transfusion and in a follow-up visit a lump on his neck was found. Another round of chemotherapy was ordered.
The Kings failed to make the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and a few days after the season, Laperriere phoned his father and noticed he did not sound well.
“Listen, we’re coming back (to Montreal) on Tuesday,” Laperriere told his father. “You’re not feeling good and I want to be by you.”
Two days later, on April 11, 2003, Laperriere received a call from his aunt telling him his father had passed.
“It’s one of those things I’ll live with,” Laperriere said. “He was happy we were coming, but that was the last I talked to him.