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“You admire his physicality, his fitness … and then you get a call like that,” Darryl Sittler said.
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August 10, 2022 • 3 hours ago • 5 minutes read • 42 comments Borje Salming honored as next statue on Legends row during Toronto Maple Leafs-Pittsburgh Penguins game at Air Canada Center in Toronto on November 14 2014. Photo by Craig Robertson /Toronto Sun
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He is considered the ageless Leaf, at 71 he is often seen doing the outdoor activities of a man more than half his age.
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“We get together every March or April and it looks like he can still play,” marveled Darryl Sittler. “You admire his physique, his fitness … and then you get a call like that.”
It was a few weeks ago that Borje Salming shared the shocking news with his tight-knit family from the 1970s Leafs. Mysterious problems the Hall of Fame defenseman was experiencing throughout his body sent him to a specialist at Karolinska Institute of Stockholm.
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“I have received news that has shaken me and my family. The signs that something was wrong in my body turned out to be ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,” Salming said via the Leafs on Wednesday. “In an instant, everything changed. I don’t know what the days ahead will look like, but I understand that there will be challenges greater than anything I have ever faced.
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“I also recognize that there is no cure, but there are numerous trials around the world and one day there will be a cure. In the meantime, there are treatments available to slow the progression and my family and I will remain positive.”
Salming last played for the Leafs in 1989, but he never parted ways with his lifelong friends in the Maple Leaf Gardens era led by Sittler, Lanny McDonald and Tiger Williams.
“Borje is a wonderful friend and a great teammate,” Sittler said. “I’d like to be talking about something else today. We’ve been in touch, me, Borje, guys like Lanny and Tiger and we all knew that today (breaking the news to the rest of the world) would be the hardest and most devastating for him and us.”
“We have been talking. If you can imagine it was you or me being told that… it was very emotional.”
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However, a Leaf with whom Salming played so briefly, Mark Kirton, was the first to whom Sittler thought to share the news, to be a great ally in the upcoming fight.
Kirton was also diagnosed with ALS in 2018 after experiencing symptoms three years earlier. Although he was now in a wheelchair, the 64-year-old helped Salming absorb the shock with his immediate family and helped him understand the slow progression drugs available to start administering them urgently.
“I told him, ‘King, the name of the game is survival until they find a cure,'” Kirton said. “You have a great support system here and with your family
Former NHL player Mark Kirton has ALS and still runs his real estate business in Oakville. LISA KIRTON PHOTO Photo by Submitted /Toronto Sun
Kirton, Sittler and the Leafs worked in recent days to build up to Wednesday’s launch, simultaneously in Canada and Sweden, in which an upbeat-sounding Salming also asked for privacy.
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“Right now, I’m sure I have my loving family around me and the best possible medical care. Please keep us in your prayers.”
Salming is a grandfather, and when others in his circle aren’t posting about how rugged he still is, he proudly points to the athletic tradition carried on by a new generation of the clan.
A pioneer of European migration to the NHL along with teammate Inge Hammarstrom in 1973, Salming quickly became a Leafs favorite, one of the few bright spots in years the team rarely reached in the playoffs. He earned respect everywhere for enduring punishment, from shot blocks to enemies determined to beat him as a perceived pacifist in a violent period of the sport.
However, he played more than 1,000 games in Toronto and remained in such good shape that he was often compared to the 60-year-old Swede in Government Participation ads, in as good or better shape than most Canadians teens. Salming survived many injuries, including a gruesome facial cut from a skate blade that required more than 200 stitches, and only lost one eye.
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Borje Salming honored as next statue on Legends row. The Toronto Maple Leafs vs. The Pittsburgh Penguins at the Air Canada Center in Toronto on Friday, November 14, 2014. Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency
Two years ago, he did have a medical episode where he couldn’t breathe and was put in an ambulance, but that was attributed to COVID-19 and he was released after one night.
Like Kirton, who suddenly started experiencing bicep cramps while on vacation in the Bahamas, it was a quick turn for the worst.
“The good news from a family perspective is that you don’t have the genetics (familial ALS), which is 5% of cases,” Kirton said. “The most important thing now is to get all the drugs available as quickly as possible at an early onset.”
Patients with sporadic ALS, which Kirton and Salming treat, typically have an average lifespan of two to five years, although the disease can affect people differently with longer survival rates. Kirton recalled how devastated he and his wife were to learn of his condition, but has vowed not to let his mental positivity cloud it.
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Kirton meets regularly via Zoom calls with 25 to 30 ALS patients of all ages, as well as personal caregivers, forming ALS Action Canada to give those affected a stronger voice to push for approval of new treatments and funding.
Meanwhile, Kirton sent his old friend an encouraging tweet on Wednesday.
“I’ve reminded Borje that he showed me the can opener move one day in training to get the center out to the corner,” Kirton laughed. “He taught me well how to get away with it and now I told hium ‘don’t worry, we have it too’.”
Toronto Maple Leaf legend Borje Salming with his Legends Row statue outside Scotiabank Arena on September 12, 2015. Photo by Dave Thomas /Toronto Sun
FULL STATEMENT OF SALMING
“I have received news that has shaken me and my family.
“The signs that something was wrong with my body turned out to be ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. In an instant, everything changed. I don’t know what the days ahead will look like, but I understand that there will be bigger challenges than anything I’ve ever faced.
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“I also recognize that there is no cure, but there are numerous trials around the world and one day there will be a cure. In the meantime, there are treatments available to slow the progression and my family and I will remain positive.
“Since I started playing ice hockey as a kid in Kiruna, and throughout my career, I’ve given it my all. And I will continue to do so.
“Right now, I am confident that I have my loving family around me and the best possible medical care.
“I understand there are many of you who would like to reach out, but I kindly ask that you respect our privacy during these difficult times. Please keep us in your prayers. When the time is right and I understand more about my condition and my future journey, I will put my hand in. Therefore, until this time, we refrain from all contact.
“I hope you understand and respect our decision.”
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