Jordan
Sigalet
Surrey, British Columbia
www.shutoutms.com
Goalie shuts out MS
With help from family & friends
Hockey is back and this year, people with MS have a
champion on the ice. Jordan Sigalet, a Surrey BC native,
is a new recruit to the Providence RI Bruins, a
development team for the Boston Bruins. Jordan, who is
24 years old, was diagnosed in 2004 with multiple
sclerosis. But that hasn’t stopped him on the ice or
off.
“I treat MS as a game I have to win. It’s just a longer
game.”
Jordan
had a hockey stick in hand by age 3. Since then, he has
won acclaim as a goalie with the Victoria Salsa and the
Falcons, the Bowling Green State University hockey team
in Ohio (USA). He was a seventh round draft pick for the
Boston Bruins and team captain with the Bowling Green
team. He has been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award –
given to the most outstanding college hockey player in
the US – as well as an ESPN award for “comeback player
of the year”.
Jordan
doesn’t shy away from the fight against MS but takes it
straight on. While attending university for computer
animation in the United States, Jordan spoke out about
his MS, helping raise awareness and funds by promoting
the sale of the MS Bands of Hope for the National MS
Society (US).
In Canada in 2005, he continued this work, educating
people about multiple sclerosis and helping with sales
of the MS Bands of Hope for the MS Society of Canada.
But his family and friends helped him go further than
that.
Jordan’s mother, Genevieve Sigalet, approached the MS
Society in British Columbia to host a sports fund
raising dinner, dance and silent auction cleverly called
“Shutout MS”. The MS Society has benefited from a number
of such events over the years, but with Jordan’s star
presence, this one took on a life of its own.
The media were drawn to Jordan’s story and people
listened when he talked about MS and his own fight
against the disease. The Shutout MS event on June 25,
2005 in Burnaby, BC garnered a lot of media attention.
The event sold out weeks in advance and attracted the
support of Kevin Newman, Global television journalist
and MS Ambassador to the MS Society of Canada, plus
hockey players Brendan Morrison, Ray Ferraro and Kelly
Hrudey. With well wishes from Hockey Night in Canada’s
Don Cherry, and a list of sports memorabilia for the
silent auction, the event was a great success.
One month after Shutout MS took place, the MS Society of
Canada received a cheque for $41,133, the bulk of it
designated towards research to find a cure for MS. With
support like this for the fight against MS, it is only a
matter of time before we truly shut MS out of people’s
lives.
To learn more about Jordan’s story, visit
www.shutoutms.com
|
