NHL legend Ron Duguay’s family is asking for public support as his battle with stage IV colon cancer appears to have taken a turn for the worse.
“I wasn’t planning on posting anything, but I believe in the power of prayer, and right now, we need all the prayers we can get,” Duguay’s daughter Shay Thomas posted via Instagram on Sunday, October 11. “And I know so many love him so much. Please keep our dad in your prayers.”
Shay shared a photo of her father in his hospital bed, who appeared to have his eyes closed while she gazed at him.
Duguay, 69, revealed his cancer diagnosis in February, telling Page Six he had been fighting the disease for roughly a year.
The hockey icon was rushed to the hospital after being found unconscious after fainting in July.
“He fainted at home, was unconscious, injured a few parts of his face, and knocked out a few teeth in the fall…this time, it wasn’t from hockey,” Thomas shared via Instagram at the time. “He was taken by ambulance to the hospital.”
She added, “After extensive testing, doctors found that he was extremely dehydrated and had been struggling to eat because of how sick he had been feeling. They also discovered varices, portal hypertensive gastropathy, internal bleeding, and an ulcer.”
Shay posted an update about her father’s condition the following month, saying that his “numbers have continued to go down at his last two appointments.”
“He still has a lot of healing ahead,” she noted. “While he was here, he felt extremely weak and uncomfortable, with how high his numbers had spiked and then seeing them start to come back down, it made sense why he had been feeling so awful. His body was dealing with so much from the cancer while also fighting through treatment, so seeing those numbers come down has been really encouraging.”
Shay continued, “Even with everything his body is being put through physically and mentally, my dad continues to smile…even with missing teeth 😂 he crack his jokes, laughs, and stays strong, and somehow keeps a positive mindset through even the hardest days.”
Duguay and his family ultimately chose to disclose his cancer diagnosis when they launched a GoFundMe to assist with ongoing medical costs, a decision that Shay defended exclusively to Us in February.
“I see so many things where people are like, ‘He has millions of dollars from back in the day. I’m like, ‘What are we talking about?’” Shay said about her father, who played 12 seasons in the NHL from 1977 to 1989.
Shay added, “His credit card debt was going up and that’s when I told him, ‘Dad, just let me do this. I’m not going to put your name on there. Just let me do this. So many people have asked to help you. You need the help. You’ve helped people. Let them help.’ … We spoke as a family and we said, ‘We need to make this GoFundMe. We gotta do everything we can. Because if we don’t, it’s going to kill you.’”
