A battle of the ages

I submitted the following post to go on the Argonauts Community Corner, however with all the content occuring it may not go up so my hope to have people read it here for now.


It was 2003 and here in Argo land financial difficulty saw a reduction in staff. I couldn’t believe that after almost 20 years I was almost unemployed. This wasn’t the only thing my family was dealing with that summer. My mother had gone through treatment for her bout with breast cancer and it appeared as though she was in remission. November we were playoff bound to Montreal for the East Final. I was there as the mascot and very excited because it was a Cinderella story in the making. Our dreams were demolished as a last second fumble was not called and the Als were Grey Cup bound. Just before I boarded the train home, I made a phone call home and heard something that made the loss miniscule compared to what my family would deal with for the remainder of the off season. While I was away my mom was rushed to the hospital and my mom’s cancer was back and had spread. It didn’t look good. I tried to be strong on the 5 ½ hour train ride home. That year, I was also asked to work at the Grey Cup in Regina. The people at the CFL during that year had said they understood if I couldn’t make it but my mom insisted I go because the Argos and the CFL meant as much to her as much as it meant to me. My sister and I shared the moments with my mom taking her to her treatments as my dad had passed away 4 years earlier. My sister and I had each other and that was what we needed to help us through everything. The Toronto Argonauts organization was classy enough to tell me that I can take as much time off as needed to be with my mom. I continued to do the Huddle Up program to take my mind off the situation and on April 1, 2004 my mom lost her battle to cancer. Then that following September, my wife’s sister-in-law lost her battle to Breast Cancer at a young age and left behind a husband and 2 year old daughter. I knew that there are many people that fight this fight with Cancer and share similar stories to what I shared. That’s why today’s game is so special to me and many people involved with the game. I can understand what Taylor Robertson, Wes Lysack and Kevin Huntley went through when someone close to them lost their battle. I commend everyone that helps support those in need. Everyone who is going through this dreadful disease whether they are fighting the battle themselves or they are family of people that are fighting it, needs support from everyone that’s why this is somewhat of a call out for all the fans out there to not only buy a ticket for tonight’s game but to wear pink and support the survivors, the people that are battling and those that have lost the battle. Understand that Friday’s game is not only about a battle on a field.
I know that my mom is looking down on today's game with my dad beside her and somewhat proud of cheering for the team and seeing how they are giving back.

“Make your passion your Life and No one can take that away.