Thursday night when the Blue Jackets hold the team’s annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night, Adam Fantilli will wear lavender Nike shoes as he heads into Nationwide Arena to take on the Arizona Coyotes.
It will be more than a fashion statement or a nod of goodwill for the CBJ rookie. Fantilli’s maternal grandmother, Mariola Andrusky, is currently battling cancer, and the footwear will be a nod to her as she continues her fight back home near Toronto.
“She’s been a big part of my life,” Fantilli said. “I used to go to (my grandparents’) house after school and hang with her for quite a while. She was always awesome.
“She’s going through a bit of a tough time right now, which sucks to see, but hopefully things can go on for a little bit longer so I can go back and see her. I want to see her again. She’s been a big part of my life, and it sucks.”
It feels like everyone has been touched by cancer in their lives, and it hits hard when a family is as close as the Fantillis. Adam and his brother, Luca, are close, as are parents Giuliano and Julia. It extends to Adam’s grandparents, as he spent a lot of time with Mariola and his grandfather, Dan, as a youngster both on his own and with the family.
“We are a pretty tight family in general,” Julia said. “When my mom retired from corporate life, she decided she was going to take care of Adam one day a week for us to help limit his time at day care and whatnot, which was really nice. She developed a nice bond with him during that time, which was awesome. My parents would host family Sunday dinners, so we’d always get together Sunday at the house. She had a beautiful backyard, so we spent a lot of time together as a family there.”
While Adam stays in touch with his grandmother as much as he can these days via phone calls and FaceTime videos, her treatment has made that more and more difficult of late. She won’t be able to be at Thursday’s game, but Andrusky was able to attend the Blue Jackets’ season opener in October to see Adam’s first NHL contest.
“It was fun getting her down here to watch the game and be able to see me do what I’ve dreamed of doing my whole life,” Adam said. “That was really, really cool. It was awesome she was able to make it down. I’m extremely grateful. We don’t know how much time we have left, so I’m glad she was able to see me realize a dream I’ve been chasing for as long as I can remember.”
According to Adam, the 64-year-old Andrusky was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has also spread to her liver. She’s undergone chemotherapy and has returned home for the time being, but it’s a struggle for her and the family.
“It doesn’t seem too good at the moment,” Fantilli said. “Hopefully things can be prolonged, but we don’t really know too much.”
Born in Poland, Andrusky moved to Canada when she was in a teenager. There was an adjustment period as she got used to the change from the Old World to North America, but thanks to a strong work ethic and formidable personality, she was able to build a career for herself and raise a family.
Given her life experiences and how she was able to conquer the challenge of moving halfway across the world, she always pushed Adam to be the best in everything he could do. While Andrusky isn’t much of a sports fan by nature, she often attended Adam’s games in the Greater Toronto Hockey League when he was growing up, but Andrusky also pushed Fantilli to make sure he cared as much about the classroom as the rink.
“She was always telling me I had to have a backup plan, and I was always focusing too much on (hockey), not going to school enough,” Fantilli said with a laugh. “She is obviously extremely intelligent. She worked and she had a pretty good work ethic, coming over and getting a job and all that stuff, so she always wanted me to focus on school a little more.
“She was always in my ear about that, but eventually she started to get more open to it and come to games a little more. She’s been extremely supportive.”
Hearing that story, Julia couldn’t help but laugh.
“She could be a little hard-headed at times,” Julia said. “She has just an incredible amount of love for her family, but she was definitely strong-willed and wanted to make sure he had his education behind him and he was focusing on things she felt was important to him in addition to hockey.”
While Andrusky won’t be in Nationwide Arena this week, Adam will still feel a connection to his grandmother when he says his pregame prayers and as the Blue Jackets recognize those battling cancer. When he slips on his shoes tomorrow night, it’ll be in recognition of everyone fighting, but in particular his grandmother north of the border.
“My cousin got me these shoes for my birthday,” he said. “Me and him are customizing them. I wanted to be able to wear them for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. It’s a velvety, purple-pink color. You’ll see them when I come in.”
