Voros has something to be thankful for this -- and every -- Thanksgiving
Even if Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier than Americans, the "When in Rome ..." thing still feels right for Aaron Voros. That could be because the 28-year-old Vancouver native makes his living as a forward for the New York Rangers.
And spending this year's holiday in Florida with the team, well, that certainly makes it easier to get caught up in the spirit of things.
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| Aaron Varos, who does the dirty work in the trenches, appreciates the fact that he can play at all. (Getty Images) |
"This is something I never take for granted at all," Voros said.
This, folks, is playing in the NHL.
Actually, this is simply playing at all.
Voros wasn't so sure he'd be doing one or the other seven years ago when he was a sophomore at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Coming from a second-tier junior league, Voros wasn't a highly touted prospect, but he had been drafted in the final round by the New Jersey Devils a couple of years earlier, so there was some hope even if he had yet to turn pro.
Problem was, early in his second season with Alaska, Voros suffered an injury that led to a gruesome discovery. It began after the winger had fallen awkwardly during a game and went for X-rays, a seemingly routine examination that revealed a large tumor-like lump on the back of his left knee. Subsequent MRI tests done over the next few months led three different doctors to diagnose Voros with osteosarcoma, a rare type of malignant bone cancer that threatened the loss of his leg, if not his life.
"It was something that you can't understand really because, you know, you're young and you think you're invincible," he said. "That's what I thought, anyway.
"My mom, my dad, my sisters, my girlfriend at the time -- they were all pretty shaken by it, but I didn't want to believe something like this was happening to me. I mean, I knew it was a real situation, but I always thought it would work out OK."
That might explain why Voros didn't accept the conflicting diagnoses about how serious his condition was at first, and he actually tried to play through his situation for half a season. Around Christmas, though, he finally gave in and underwent the surgeries that had been recommended.
Voros ended up getting operated on six times, including one procedure that had doctors transplant a piece of bone from a cadaver into his knee, a debilitating process that left the 6-3, 215-pound athlete bedridden for months. Making matters worse, Voros developed a staph infection and lost 50 pounds while enduring an intravenous catheter, known as a Hickman line, into his heart.
"That's something that gives you a sense of how fragile you are," Voros said. "They cut your chest open and put two tubes in my heart, attached to a fanny pack that feeds antibiotics into my system 24/7. I had to flush the tubes out every day with saline for eight weeks because the end of the tube by the heart would clot. It was crazy."
Nerve-wracking too, though ultimately worth the trouble because the tumor was discovered to be benign. And that was something considered an extreme long shot, given the original prognosis.
"It really was a life-changing experience that makes you stop and think," Voros said. "But it felt like I was getting a second chance and I intended to make the most of it."
Several months later Voros got back on his feet, back into shape and back on the road to resuming his career. Voros finished the following season at Alaska, signed with the Devils and spent the next two-plus seasons with their top minor league team while developing his game as a physical presence. But there was no call-up from the Devils.
"It was frustrating because I always thought of myself having a great chance to play in the NHL and figured all I needed was to pay my dues," Voros said. "You see guys coming and going and you wonder when you'll get your chance because for a lot of guys, that's what it's all about."
Voros got his chance after being traded to the Minnesota Wild organization for a low-round draft pick. He finally made his NHL debut at age 26, playing 55 games in 2007-08 for the Wild and had his perseverance recognized as the team nominee for the Masterton Trophy that season. It was enough to get Voros signed in July 2008 as a free agent by the Rangers, the team he grew up idolizing as a kid.
The plan was for Voros, a big, grinding forward who has shown hints of a scoring touch in his career, to replace Sean Avery in the trenches for New York. Avery had left that summer for Dallas but returned midway through last season. That reduced the role for Voros, who started off well in his first season in New York on a line with Nikolai Zherdev and Brandon Dubinsky, but faded as the schedule wore on.
Now Voros plays only about five minutes a night, but he isn't complaining. "I always think back to the time I was in the hospital in Fairbanks and about the kid who was next to me in the room," Voros said. "He was diagnosed with the identical tumor and he lost his whole leg.
"Obviously things could have been very different. I could have been one of those guys who always is dreaming of what could have happened or should have happened, so I'm very blessed to be in the position I'm in. I know that."
