“Dr. Mom” still worries
Posted Sep 2, 2011 05:12:34 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ben Fanelli has made it official that he’s returning to the Ontario Hockey League. He talks excitedly about his dreams of one day playing in the NHL. And the 18-year old defenceman is quick to point out how much the support of his family has meant over the past two years of his recovery from a devastating head injury.
But what remains up in the air is whether or not his mom will ever watch him play again.
“I’m struggling with that a bit. I want to be there (when Ben steps back on the ice) but I don’t know if I can actually watch,” admits Ben’s mom, Sue, in an interview with 570 News. “That’s my thing I have to work through as a mom so I’m working on it, devising methods of how I can do it.”
From the beginning, Sue was a reluctant participant in all things hockey. She admits to a distaste for “the violence of hockey” but says it was a family of boys — Ben, his brother and dad Frank — that convinced mom to let the kids give hockey a try.
“When they put their hockey equipment on — he and his brother — I was worried,” Sue confesses.
So it’s no surprise that on October 30th, 2009 — the night that Ben was rammed into the end boards at the Memorial Auditorium and left unconscious in a pool of his own blood — Sue fainted in the stands.
“It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever gone through and I hope to God I never have to experience anything like that ever again,” Sue states flatly. “And I don’t know at this point how I’ll do it. I want to be there to support him but I’m not sure yet how I’m going to do it.”
Speaking with Sue, it’s evident that strength runs in the family. Despite her concern, she laughs as she answers questions. She talks about Ben as though he were still that precocious little child trying to stay out past dark to skate on the ice just a little bit longer.
But Ben has proven himself to be very adult-like with a maturity that belies his 18 years. Sue seems to feed off her son’s poise and strength.
“He took a negative situation and made it so positive and we’re so proud of him,” Sue says without a hint of boastfulness. “And that’s none of our doing. That’s Ben and that’s just what he is.”
Besides a hockey player, Ben is an outspoken advocate for brain injury awareness. His Head Strong campaign was started as a means of focusing his energy during his recovery. The program will continue as Fanelli makes his triumphant return to the ice.
“As my dad says, the stuff that drives me crazy about him is also what makes him the athlete that he is,” Sue says with a laugh. “The tenacity and stuff that he has.”
That tenacity — already demonstrated off the ice — is now being demonstrated on the ice, as Fanelli competes with dozens of other players for a place on the Kitchener Rangers final roster for the 2011-2012 season.
If he’s successful, Fanelli and his teammates will take to the ice against Western Conference rival Windsor on September 23rd.
More than 6,000 hockey fans will pack the Memorial Auditorium to see the game. To witness the completion of a remarkable comeback.
But Ben’s mom?
“We’ll see,” she says.
