Five years after nearly dying, Ryan Howe is living his life, appreciating the little moments and captaining the Red Lake Miners at the Centennial Cup
Ryan Howe is grateful for a lot of things – family, friends, hockey and,
most importantly, life.
Wearing the ‘C’ for the Red Lake Miners at the 2022 Centennial Cup,
presented by Tim Hortons, the 21-year-old from Caledon, Ont., wasn’t sure
he would get an opportunity like this five years ago.
“It was a pretty traumatic experience, and it was near death, so for me, I
am just grateful that I am here,” says Howe. “I appreciate the little
things in life a little bit more.”
Five years ago, Howe was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a bowel ailment
that causes chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
He didn’t go to school for four months and was hospitalized for six weeks
at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He was diagnosed with a toxic
megacolon, which is a rare disease that occurs when swelling and
inflammation spreads into the deeper layers of the colon. As a result, the
colon stops working and widens.
“There was a high chance that I would need a surgical procedure. Luckily, I
didn’t,” Howe says. “I was also diagnosed as anemic as I struggled with
iron deficiency.”
Throughout his illness, Howe dropped a significant amount of weight. When
healthy, the forward weighed around 165 pounds. During his hospital stay,
he lost 66 of those – dropping to just 99 pounds as a 16-year-old athlete.
“I didn’t know if I would ever be able to play hockey again,” he says.
When he was released from the hospital, Howe weighed 120 pounds. His
recovery focused on getting stronger every month.
“For me, it was just about trying to gain a little bit every month and get
stronger,” he says. “I struggled a lot that summer because I didn’t have a
lot of energy.”
When Howe stepped back on the ice for his second year of U18 AAA with the
Mississauga Senators,…