Dunlap: Dupuis Situation Reinforces Importance Of Family
There's Maeve.
There's Zoe.
There's Lola.
The three of them --- three daughters.
There's that little boy, Kody, too.
And there's Carole-Lyne, the mother of this Dupuis brood.
That's who I couldn't stop thinking about on Wednesday afternoon when a hurriedly-called media gathering was assembled for the man of that house --- Penguins winger Pascal Dupuis --- to announce he had a blood clot in his lung.
It's the second blood clot this year for the 35-year-old who will now miss at least six months as he gets a mixture of injections and oral medicines in an attempt to help the situation dissipate.
Will he play hockey again? Who knows right now?
For me, as I watched that press conference, I couldn't help but think, "who cares."
For Dupuis, who has been hit with a spell of bad luck --- he blew out his knee last season and freakishly got drilled by a puck in the neck earlier this season --- this was all so different.
Wednesday was different --- this ailment was different.
That's why I thought of his family right away; that and because I have young children and a wife of my own and I'm just a few years older than Dupuis.
The confusion, the bewilderment, the questions of what he did --- what his family did --- to deserve all this have to have been something that spilled out. I felt for them as I watched that press conference, thinking not of Dupuis the hockey player, but rather of him as father and husband.
You see, when Dupuis busted his knee up or was felled by that blistering shot that hit him on the back of his collar, perhaps there was an expectation from his family that such an event could happen to him.
No matter how strapping and stout, sturdy and durable hockey players are, hockey injuries happen to hockey players ---- there's an instinctive expectation, even if they don't like to admit it, that hockey families live with the understanding their loved one could get hurt playing this sport.
And they could get hurt pretty badly.
They can be strapped to a board and whisked to the nearest hospital as a hush falls over the crowd --- as Dupuis was when he was stretchered off the ice after that puck caught him in the neck earlier this season.
But, man, this one was different. Wednesday was different.
I couldn't imagine the span of time before the press conference, when Dupuis had to privately deliver the news to his family that their proud Papa was decked by something they couldn't see, something that didn't happen on the ice and something that was so damn scary to talk about.
Furthermore, I couldn't imagine being Dupuis, standing with those microphones pointed at him and the camera lenses twisted in as he explained --- about as stoically as anyone could have --- that he was "lucky" this second clot was diagnosed when it was.
Without expressly needing to say it, we all know what both he and Dr. Dharmesh Vyas meant was one of the real alternative if that blood clot wasn't caught when it was --- a harsh, cold reality that even our sports heroes can have their game clock hit all zeroes at just 35.
"It's not a great situation to be in," Dupuis said of his current state. "But that's the card I've been dealt. Hockey is definitely second on my mind right now."
He then drew a breath in, collected himself and referred to his family.
"They're the most important point in my life right now, family and home. I've just got to be healthy for them."
There's Maeve.
There's Zoe.
There's Lola.
The three of them --- three daughters.
There's that little boy, Kody, too.
And there's Carole-Lyne, the mother of this Dupuis brood.
As I watched that press conference Wednesday, I couldn't help but keep thinking about his family.
Hockey can wait. Maybe forever.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weeknights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
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