(Photo: Vancouver Canucks website http://canucks.nhl.com/)
APTN National News
Retired NHL enforcer Gino Odjick says he is dying of a terminal disease that is causing his heart to harden.
In an open letter to “friends, teammates and fans” that was posted on the Vancouver Canucks website, Odjick wrote he may only have a few weeks to live.
“My doctors aren’t sure how long I have to live,” he wrote. “Initially they thought years, but now they think it could be a lot less. I could be down to months or even weeks.”
Odjick wrote he had AL amyloidosis which causes “abnormal protein to be produced and deposits are being formed on my heart.”
Odjick is originally from Kitigan Zibi, an Algonquin community in Quebec, about 135kilometres north of Ottawa.
Odjick, 43, played in the NHL from 1990 to 2002, wearing the Canucks jersey for eight of those years. He also played for Montreal, the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers.
In his open letter, Odjick said he’s grateful his hockey career helped First Nations youth in his community and across the country.
“It also means the world to me that my hockey career gave me a chance to open doors for kids in Aboriginal communities,” wrote Odjick. “I was just a little old Indian boy from the rez. If I could do it, so could they. My hope is that my hockey story helps show kids from home what’s possible. I always tell them education is freedom.”
Odjick wrote that he was now going to focus on spending time with his children and “everyone I love.”
Odjick found out he had the disease in April when he went to the hospital after suffering from shortness of breath. Two days after the hospital visit he was diagnosed with the disease.
“I’ve been in the hospital under the supervision of some great doctors ever since,” he wrote.
Odjick scored 64 goals and had 73 assists along with 2,567 penalty minutes over 605 regular season games.
“This isn’t goodbye,” he wrote.
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