Former Vancouver Canucks enforcer Gino Odjick overcame some personal demons to become an advocate or aboriginal Canadians, and he was doing very well...Until recently, when his health took a terrible turn. The Vancouver Province's Ed Willes reports that Odjick's battling a fatal disease:

Odjick has been told his time might be measured in months, if not weeks. In mid-April, shortly after the ceremony that inducted Quinn into the Canucks’ Ring of Honour, he became short of breath. Two days later he was diagnosed with amyloidsis, a rare heart condition in which a protein, produced in the bone marrow, forms deposits in the heart. The form he has is considered terminal.

A heart transplant won’t work. Neither will a bone-marrow transplant. There are experimental treatments in Europe but the best hope is doctors can buy Odjick some time.

“You don’t think when you’re 43 years old they’re going to tell you you’ve got one year to live,” he says. “It was the last thing on my mind. There’s been a lot of soul searching.”

He’s asked if he’s found any answers.

“Not yet. All I can do is the best I can do every day. But there comes a point when I have to make plans to enjoy the last year and that’s where we’re at right now.”

Continued

Update: the QMI News Agency notes that all of this arose from a letter Odjick penned that was released by the Canucks on Thursday; the Canucks then posted a "tribute" video for Odjick...

And there is a fundraising page up to help defer the cost of Odjick's medical expenses.