This hockey season was supposed to be one young Whitby player’s chance to shine.
Instead, he went from being a top Ontario Hockey League prospect to battling cancer.
November 17, 2018 was the last time Owen Brady played the game he so desperately loves. The 15-year-old even scored on the power play.
Hockey has been a major part of Owen’s life since he was five years old. But a couple of days after leading his team to victory, he was diagnosed with cancer — a disease that put both his life and his hockey career in jeopardy.
“This isn’t real, you only hear about these scenarios in movies. It is happening and it is reality,” said Owen Brady.
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotion, everything from disbelief to sadness to heartbreak to hope,” said Chris Brady, Owen’s father.
A month after his diagnosis — osteosarcoma, the same type of cancer that Terry Fox had — Owen was at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto to have a tumour in his left shin surgically removed.
“We owe Owen’s health and wellbeing and certainly his leg to all the efforts from fundraising and Terry Fox Runs and Terry Fox himself,” Chris added.
“We’ve been told directly from the doctors that there’s a very good chance that Owen would have lost his leg if we didn’t have as much knowledge and information.”
Through the journey, Owen has received an outpouring of support from his teammates and even hockey legends like Bobby Orr and Don Cherry.
“People have gone above and beyond being generous — not just firing me a quick email or sending a dinner, but checking in all the time,” said Deirdre Brady, Owen’s mom.
Since the surgery, Owen has been on the mend. He no longer needs his wheelchair and on weeks when he isn’t at Sick Kids for chemo treatment, he’s at the gym.
It’s a sentiment shared by Joe Haars with Reactive Physiotherapy and Massage.
“It’s just incredible to see the strength, the commitment and progression to date so far,” Haars said.
Another motivating factor is that Owen’s now an Oshawa Generals prospect. He was drafted last month in the sixth round and was the club’s first defenceman taken.
“By getting drafted, it shows that they believe in me and a lot of other people do as well,” said Owen Brady.
“It has given him the confidence to keep working, knowing that so many more people believe in him and that he will recover and return to what he likes to do, which is play hockey,” said Deirdre.
While there’s still a long journey ahead for Owen and his family, the six-foot-three 16-year-old is determined to be back on the ice this summer with the hopes of joining the Generals in 2020.
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