PJ Shea, a Newfoundlander, wasn’t expected to live to the age of 5, was told time and again that we wouldn’t live until this age and that age due to the fact that he has Cystic Fibrosis, which normally means a short life for those unfortunate enough to be stricken with this illness. PJ came to our Hockey School for a number of years, won the Mr. Hustle Award and had an electronic hockey shooting gallery named in his honour. Although PJ was not big and strong in stature, he had a heart as big as a house. He was told by his doctor to quit hockey as a teenage because his body just wouldn’t stand up to it. He continued to play many other sports, won awards, graduated from high school and university and obtained a Master’s Degree in Science and Aquaculture.
Near death in his late twenties; PJ overcame the odds by getting a double lung transplant and after rehabilitation he restarted his hockey career in a Newfoundland men’s league. Years after, his doctor told him his career was finished. We kept in touch over the years and I had the privilege of visiting he, his wife and a brand new set of twin boys in the spring of 2011. At that time however, PJ was once again experiencing health problems and it looked like another lung transplant was necessary. In order to survive, PJ would once again have to face the agony and pain of waiting for a donor and going through the complications of the transplant procedure.
I was in the Boston area coaching an Atom spring team in the spring of 2013 while all this was happening to PJ. Standing outside before the early morning game, I was wondering what I would say to the boys before the game when suddenly the phone rang. It was PJ who told me at the age of 36, he had just come through a successful second lung transplant. I’ll never forget his words: “Now to put some meat on my bones and its back on the ice in the fall.” I now had something meaningful to tell the boys before we played the strong team from Long Island. We did lose 1-0 in shoot out. Long Island lost 2-1 in overtime in the gold medal game. The boys played with courage and learned that sometimes we win, sometimes we learn. Once again, PJ’s life was an inspiration; he just doesn’t know how to quit.
Allan Andrews