LaFontaine, he was more than a star on ice
By Bill Hoppe
for The Times Herald
3/3/2006
WILLIAMSVILLE - The parents laid the pictures on
the dining room table for a visitor to see.
There was one of their son and the hockey star,
clad in a surgical mask, together in a hospital
room. Another showed the two in the same room,
the hockey star holding a homemade Sabres shirt
from his friend, an almost exact recreation of
the charging buffalo adorning the front. There
are stories about the hockey star, too - almost
too many to recount. They talk about the time he
briefly delayed a trip with his wife to keep his
promise to visit their son and play video games.
Another time the whole family took one vehicle
to the airport, except their son and the hockey
star, who instead rode together.
John and Erika Schwegler can show pictures and
tell stories from a traumatic period with wide
smiles on their faces at times. As their son,
Robert, battled and later died from acute
myelogenous leukemia almost 12 years ago, a
special buddy helped him, a hockey star going
through his own - albeit less serious -
problems.
"You're lucky if you can have somebody walk
through your door and offer you something you
won't get from anybody else," Erika Schwegler
said.
When the Sabres retire Pat LaFontaine's No. 16
before their game tonight at HSBC Arena against
the Maple Leafs, the Schweglers will cheer with
the more than 18,000 other fans. But they won't
just cheer Pat LaFontaine the hockey star;
they'll cheer the man who gave their son
something no one else could.
It can be argued LaFontaine is the greatest
athlete Buffalo has ever known - better than O.J.
Simpson, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Gilbert
Perreault or even Dominik Hasek in his prime.
His 53-goal, 95-assist, 148-point season in
1992-93 is one of the highest point totals in
NHL history and will likely remain a Sabres
record forever. Buffalo's leading scorer this
season, Ales Kotalik, is on pace for 63 points.
But there's another reason Buffalo is honoring
someone who spent less than six years in town.
Goals and assists are just a small part of
LaFontaine.
LaFontaine met Robert, who would have turned 24
on Thursday, in the winter of 1994 as he
rehabbed his torn right ACL. Robert was "really
in a bad state" then, according to Erika
Schwegler. She didn't think he would live much
longer. His leukemia, first diagnosed in April
1993, wouldn't go into remission. He had been
almost completely hospital-bound since November.
Robert and LaFontaine quickly became friends.
And LaFontaine was a virtual member of the
family, constantly visiting him at the Roswell
Park Cancer Institute and playing video games.
In an increasingly bleak life, Robert's new
friend was helping him fight. But Robert was
doing the same for LaFontaine.
"At times Robert would tell Pat to do some
riding on the stationary bike for rehab, because
Pat would slack," Erika Schwegler said. "They
kept each other going like a contest."
"I got to become very close to him," LaFontaine
said earlier this week from Long Island. "He had
tremendous courage. His courage inspired me to
want to go back and play. He taught me a lot
just what he was dealing with."
They shared a special a relationship that 12
years later the Erika Schwegler does not
completely understand.
"It's just something like it was their moment
and they talked about whatever and we never
found out," Erika Schwegler said. "It's like
anything else in life. Sometimes you tell your
aunt or your grandma everything and you would
never tell your parents. And I think sometimes
it's a great thing when you can have somebody in
your life that can really understand you or
maybe just treat you like nothing's wrong.
"And that probably was very important to
Robert," she said. "Here's an adult who Robert
didn't feel like he really is an adult. Robert
felt like that was his buddy."
LaFontaine even got Robert to a few Sabres
games, a difficult task with his health. John
Schwegler had to carry a frail Robert, who wore
a surgical mask, into Memorial Auditorium. The
sight of a father and son enjoying a hockey game
mesmerized LaFontaine, who was in the press box
one game helping out on the radio broadcast.
"I'll never forget because I think we scored a
goal at the time and (color analyst) Larry
Playfair looked at me," he said. "I wasn't even
following the play. I was kind of fixated on a
father and son sharing a special time at a
hockey game."
LaFontaine's presence became a special tonic his
parents, doctors or anyone could not give the
ailing boy. One day, a nurse emotionally thanked
LaFontaine.
"She just said it's one of the rare times that
he even smiles is when you're here playing video
games," he said. "I never forgot that. We're
very fortunate to live out a dream and become
professional athletes. I don't think we always
realize the impact you might have on a child or
somebody who looks up to you."
Robert died in July 1994, but Erika Schwegler
believes the friendship of a hockey star helped
him erase some of the pain and live a little
longer.
"Robert knew we loved him, and he had a lot of
people supporting him, but there was something
about Pat that made him strong," she said.
LaFontaine's work with children didn't start or
end with Robert. Today, his foundation,
Companions in Courage, puts interactive
playrooms - among other things - in hospitals.
The rooms give sick children a link to the
outside world. There's one in Buffalo Children's
Hospital.
"He was a very special friend, a special boy,"
LaFontaine said. "I think of him often. A lot of
what I'm doing with Companions in Courage today
is directly responsible for his courage and
inspiration."
So as the Sabres honor one their stars tonight,
the Schweglers will watch and remember Pat
LaFontaine, the man, and their son.
"It will bring back old memories," John
Schwegler said. "And they were great memories."
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