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Getting back to Hockey

By Whalers Hockey, 06/24/09, 9:00AM EDT

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Getting back to Hockey Life after cancer battle

Whaler Midget Defensemen, Luke Carroll had hoped to complete a fairytale ending last season after his Midget team started the year off with an eleven game winning streak. It would have been the icing on the cake for Carroll, who had everything to look forward to until his world came crashing down three months into the season when he was found to have Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer.

The entire Hampton Roads Hockey community gave pause when it heard the word that Luke had cancer. When the news spread, every hockey player, coach, and parent took time out of there day to think about Luke and his fight against Lymphoma.
Thoughts, prayers, and countless visits were with Luke throughout his battle with cancer. His recovery has been inspiring to say the least. His team kept Luke as connected as possible by countless visits, allowing him to join the bench when he felt up to it, and they set up a live Web Cam internet address for him to see the home and away games while he was admitted into the hospital receiving Chemo treatments.
In May Luke celebrated completing his last Chemo treatment and forty-five days later he returned to his passion when the Whalers Junior Development Coach Brad Jones called and offered him the opportunity to join his development camp.
Impatient to return to the game he loves, Luke jumped at the invitation, and says that he has been humbled by all the support he has received. “The Whalers and all of hockey families have been fantastic,” he said.
Although he has been obsessed with getting back on the Ice as soon as possible, he quickly found out his body wasn’t as prepared to assume the rigors of dry-land and Ice training it had been accustomed to for most of his youth. Coach Jones gave him a great workout, “we just want to help him get his legs and his game back” he said
After day one, Luke said that he was disappointed in his abilities but he remains typically upbeat, saying: “It is a bit intimidating to know how big of a mountain you have to climb, but it is nice to know at every turn there are a lot of people supporting me and wanting me to do better.”