PDA

View Full Version : Babcock Helps Cancer Cause



Brad
01-13-2005, 02:51 PM
Source: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Anaheim/2005/01/12/896518-cp.html

Babcock helps build brain cancer database

By PIERRE LEBRUN

(CP) - Cancer has touched Mike Babcock's life too many times.

"In my life, (former NFL quarterback) Mark Rypien is good friend of mine, he
lost his boy Andrew to brain cancer," said the Anaheim Mighty Ducks head coach.
"I worked for the Brett brothers in Spokane (WHL) for six years. Ken Brett died
last year - brain cancer. Jeffrey Hayden, (the son of) my next-door neighbour,
I gave his eulogy this fall - he died from brain cancer. My mom died from
cancer . . .

"The gift of the lockout for me is to try and help in this area as much as I
can."

Babcock, 41, has thrown himself into the cause with the same drive that has
made him a winner behind the bench.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm doing cancer research," Babcock said
from Anaheim. "I'm just trying to get people together."

Babcock, who coached Canada to gold medals at the 2004 men's world championship
and the 1997 world junior championship, is helping a friend, Tim Hayden, put
together a website database that will help parents whose kids are suffering
from brain cancer.

Hayden, Babcock's neighbour in Cincinnati when he coached the Ducks' AHL
affiliate in 2000-01 and 2001-02, lost his 12-year-old son Jeffrey to brain
cancer last fall.

Babcock performed Jeffrey's eulogy.

"It was a very moving thing," Tim Hayden said from Cincinnati. "I know Mike,
he's a hard-nosed guy and he handles the hockey players really well but just
like me, he was struggling to get through that day. It hit home, but he did a
wonderful job, it was special that he did it.

"But he doesn't want to stop there. He has free time now and he's helping me."

Babcock was moved by what his friend had to go through. Jeffrey was diagnosed
in January 2003 and died nine months later, and in between his parents didn't
know where to go or what to do to help their son.

"What's happening now is that when your kid gets cancer, you get on the
Internet but you can never find the information," said Babcock, who led the
Ducks to the Stanley Cup final in first NHL season behind the bench. "Your kid
ends up dead and now you're finding out information you could have used to
maybe help the doctors."

Each year, approximately 10,000 people in Canada are diagnosed with a primary
or metastatic brain tumour, according to the Brain Tumour Association of
Canada. Brain tumours are the second leading cause of cancer death for children
and young adults up to age 34. And they are one of the fastest growing causes
of cancer death in the elderly.

There's no cure for brain cancer, reminds Hayden, but he feels doctors are
somewhat ill-equipped at helping with treatment. So parents are left trying to
figure out on their own what to do to make the remaining days as enjoyable as
possible for their dying children.

"Although the Internet has a wealth of information out there, you don't know
what to believe, what's true, who are the people just taking you for a ride -
where is the factual information? You find out that the factual information
actually lies with the parents themselves which have gone through this," said
Hayden.

"Doctors and hospitals in the U.S. aren't allowed to share information from
other people, from other parents whose kids went through this."

Hayden, who runs a high-tech manufacturing company, was left frustrated by the
lack of information or direction for coping with a child who has brain cancer.
So he's set up a website - jthf.org - which both he and Babcock hope will grow
into a huge centralized database that can help parents around the world.

"We want to create a resource centre that allows a parent to go and do the
research so that they can make an educated decision on the treatment program
that they put together for their kid," said Hayden. "We also want to make this
information available to the medical community so that they can recommend
treatment programs that are showing promise and steer people away from things
that have not shown any promise. And that's what Mike has worked on with me."

Babcock, who has three kids, spends much of his time these days meeting with
cancer organizations and people at the Children's Hospital of Orange County. He
had a two-hour meeting with the American Cancer Society earlier this week, and
more meetings with other organizations are planned.

"I have more time now than I would have otherwise," said Babcock. "I told the
people the other day after a two-hour lunch, 30 minutes would have been the max
if I was coaching."

Hayden, a fan of the AHL Ducks, is somewhat grateful for the lockout.

"We wouldn't be doing this story if hockey was playing and Mike wouldn't be
doing this if hockey was in session, but because it's not, he has dedicated a
lot of his time to help raise awareness to this problem," said an appreciative
Hayden. "He lost his own mother to cancer, so he's driven by this. His son and
my son were very good friends.

"He's the guy that can open the doors to get people to talk to each other."