Bowling Green State University Athletics
Sigalet Extends A Lifetime
August 22, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Aug. 22, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Jordan Sigalet probably figures he should not have driven to the hospital the day he woke up almost entirely numb and weak from the neck down.
"I felt like it was the only option I
had. I was pretty worried," he said, four years after the initial symptoms surfaced.
He made it fine to the hospital near Bowling Green (Ohio) State University, but he had no idea what he was dealing with. He doesn't want someone else to have to drive themselves, potentially furthering the symptoms of the disease he lives with: Multiple Sclerosis. He
wants people to know what it is and
learn how to live with it.
Sigalet was, at the time, a 23-year-old junior at the school and the Division 1 college hockey team's starting goalie. Multiple Sclerosis has been known to lead to disabilities in its worst stages. It is, as the National MS Society writes on its Web site (www.nationalmssociety.org), "a chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the central nervous system."
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A stealth disease
Not unlike those living with Diabetes, you usually can't tell from looking at someone with MS that they have the disease - especially not a physically fit, professional athlete like Sigalet, who joined others with and without MS at Ipswich (Mass.) Country Club on July 23 in the Link Up for MS Pro-Am Golf Tournament.
Sigalet stays in shape in order to continue his hockey career, now in the hands of the Boston Bruins and its minor league affiliate, the Providence Bruins. He takes regular injections of a medication called Rebif to help manage the disease.
What helps best to carry him through each day, however, is positive thinking.
"The thing I have to try not to do is worry," said the native of New Westminster, B.C., a suburb of Vancouver. "I'm not sure what's going to happen tomorrow or a week down the road - it's a dark road but you've got to have a positive attitude.
"The more stressed out you get, the worse off you'll be with the disease," he said.
Sigalet was in Ipswich as an MS Lifelines Ambassador, a person with MS who is in the limelight as a professional athlete. There are many others, however, who walk among us each day with the disease, for those not in Massachusetts, such as 37-year-old Topsfield resident Eric Caputo. He and Sigalet were only too happy to lend their golf skills to the tournament, while telling their stories to raise the level of education about MS.
"I was diagnosed in 2004. I had a month or so of symptoms, all of which I thought were bad fatigue," said Caputo, who works as an economic consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "I had trouble writing, trouble with speech, my legs were an issue and, from week to week, it got worse.
"Since [I was diagnosed], it's been a learning process, understanding my body and making sure I know what my limitations are," he said. "I'm trying to manage my life and schedule so I don't get too overwhelmed. I have four kids, so that makes it a lot more challenging - I've got to make sure I save up enough energy and time for them, as well."
Caputo said he can't live too spontaneously because of MS.
"You always want to do everything you can and never say `no' to anybody, whether it's your family or friends. You have to realize you can't do that," he said. "I'll think ahead and say, `I've got three days of activity,' so I'll take it easy for a couple of days in advance and then make sure I don't overdo it during that time."
In the public eye
It was Jordan Sigalet's biggest worry that having MS would be a stigma that would affect his ambition to become a professional hockey player.
"I kept it to myself for six months; I kept it quiet," said Sigalet. "I had been drafted by Boston, and I was worried what they'd think if I went public with it. It was hard, but once I went public, the support I got from the Bruins and everyone has been unbelievable."
The golf tournament's presenting sponsor, biotechnology company EMD Serono, also sponsors the Sigalet Saves for MS fundraiser in Providence, R.I. EMD Serono gives $20 for each save
that Sigalet makes in Providence for the Bruins.
In British Columbia, the Sigalet family (his brother Jonathan also played for Bowling Green and is in the Bruins' system) runs a fundraiser called Shut Out MS. They raised $70,000 this summer for the National MS Society.
"The hope is that once someone is diagnosed, they know what it is, unlike myself when I was laying there," Sigalet said.
The night before he found himself numb and weak from the neck down, Sigalet finished a weekend series where he stopped 66 shots in a two-night series against Northern Michigan University.
"I thought I pinched a nerve or did something to my back," Sigalet said. "It started spreading and getting stronger, so I called my Mom, who's a nurse. She said, `Get to the hospital.'"
After that risky drive, his hockey team's doctor ran tests, including an MRI and a spinal tap.
"The first thing he said to me, not long after the tests, was, `Things don't look good.' A million thoughts ran through my head: Was it a tumor? Cancer? He said, `You have MS,' and I had no idea what it was. Would I still be able to play hockey?"
The short answer was "yes." Sigalet went on to finish with 102 games at Bowling Green, and he's played in 62 American Hockey League games with Providence, giving up just 2.48 goals per game and stopping over 90 percent of the shots he faced in two pro seasons.
He's been called up to Boston many times as a back-up and practice goalie, but has seen just a minute of relief duty, back in the 2005-06 season.
Brother Jonathan left after two years at Bowling Green to stay with his brother, signing with Boston and Providence in 2005, five days after Jordan signed.
"We've been very fortunate that we could follow each other around," Jordan said. "He was huge support for me. It was just as hard for him to go through. I was his older brother that he looked up to, and now he's seeing me come down with this illness. He's dealt with it very well, and he's there for me."
The Providence training staff has been a big help in learning about the disease and helping Sigalet wherever he needs it. Through his own efforts and those of the trainers, he said he hasn't "had any new progression with the disease, which is obviously very good.
"I'm lucky enough to not have any problems with balance and vision, which as a goalie, you need," he said. "I was called up to Boston three different times in my first year. That's your dream as a kid, to get called up to the NHL. I'm working hard to get up there full time one year here," Sigalet said.
"I can't wait to get to [Boston Bruins] camp and prove myself. It's a whole new coaching staff, so it's a clean slate for everyone. I want to go there and leave a good impression."
He would certainly leave a good impression on society, showing them what someone with MS can do, given the right treatment, the right knowledge and, of course, the right positive attitude.
Teaming up
The MS Pro-Am Golf Tournament this year raised more than $103,000. That is the result of the efforts over four years of several different parties coming together.
The golf tournament itself is the brainchild of Cathy MacPherson, a former Middleton (Mass.) Golf Course and current Ferncroft Country Club teaching professional and member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
The golf tournament has been at Ipswich Country Club for two years. Lou Caputo, Eric's father and a former six-year chairman of the board of governors at Ipswich Country Club, had quite a bit to do with bringing it to Ipswich.
"Once you have an offspring that gets diagnosed with the disease, you obviously have a new favorite charity in your life," said Lou Caputo, who has been on the Ipswich Country Club board 15 years.
While everyone wanted to play some good golf, the opponent they were all really battling was the disease known as Multiple Sclerosis.
For more information on Multiple Sclerosis or to make a donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, please visit www.nationalmssociety.org or www.msnewengland.org. You can also call 1-800-493-9255. Ex-Bowling Green, current Providence Bruins goalie fights MS all year
Jordan Sigalet is a very active and vocal force in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis, which he lives with everyday. sigalet currently tends net for the Providence Bruins and is a former star goalie for Bowling Green State University.
