When Steve Staios was given a chance to speak during his introductory press conference with the Ottawa Senators last fall, he opened the session by acknowledging his wife Susannah’s absence.
“I’d like to first take some time to thank my family. My wife Susannah is not here today. She’s going through some health issues and struggles, but on the mend,” Staios said on September 29, 2023. “I think everybody in this room will get to know her.”
Staios, in his typical calm and understated fashion, was downplaying the concerns around Susannah’s health. Just 18 days earlier – on September 11, 2023 – Susannah underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mass from her colon.
While Staios was embarking on a new chapter with an NHL team, he was simultaneously trying to navigate Susannah’s cancer treatment. The timing for him to join the Senators front office was less than ideal and he was willing to forgo the opportunity to stay at home and help with Susannah’s recovery last fall.
“I told Susannah, ‘I can say no to this. I can take a year off,” says Steve. “That was my obligation to her as a husband. I wanted her to know that I was willing to do that.”
Susanah, however, was having no part of that plan.
“The one thing I said to him was, ‘There is no way you’re going to put this year on hold,” says Susannah. “I said, ‘Absolutely not. What are you going to do just sitting by my side for nine months? You go do your thing.”
Susannah’s health challenges started early in 2023, when Steve was still working in the front office for the Edmonton Oilers.
“I had been feeling off for a number of months,” explains Susannah. “I’m not the type of person who visits the doctor very often. I’m a healthy person, I eat well and I’m active, so going to the doctor is usually the last thing on my mind.”
Doctors sent Susannah for a battery of tests, which concluded with a colonoscopy in July of 2023.
Steve immediately sensed something was amiss when the hospital phoned him while Susannah’s colonoscopy procedure was concluding.
“I saw on the caller ID it was the Oakville hospital calling and I knew something was up,” Steve says. “They told me to come back right away because they found something.”
Steve vividly recalls sitting with Susannah inside a small room inside the hospital, where a doctor delivered the grim diagnosis.
“The doctor just said to her, ‘We found a tumour. You’ve got colon cancer.”
Susannah’s recollection of that exact moment is not as clear, as she was still groggy from the procedure.
“They actually said the word cancer right there, but I was just coming out of the anesthesia, so it didn’t really register with me,” says Susannah. “But I did see the look on Steve’s face and I saw his concern.”
Steve recalls walking back to his truck in the hospital parking lot, feeling like his entire world had flipped upside down.
“This was so far out of left field, I kept wondering if this was for real,” recalls Steve. “It didn’t make sense because Susannah was so fit and healthy.”
The news put a damper on the couple’s joint 50th birthday celebration, which was taking place just a few days later. And they also had to deliver the news to their two children – son Nathan and daughter Ella – who are both in their early 20s.
“It was hard to tell them. We didn’t sugarcoat it, but we tried to stay positive. We told them, ‘Mom has this diagnosis, but she’s going to be fine,” recalls Susannah. “And our kids were fantastic and so supportive.”
From that point, Susannah says Steve’s organizational skills and penchant for accomplishing tasks with a high degree of efficiency took over.
“Steve just took the project on. We were detailed in finding the right oncologist and the right doctors,” says Susannah. “And by early September, I had my surgery to remove the mass.”
The procedure to remove the malignant tumour in September wasn’t the end of Susannah’s cancer journey. In November of 2023, she started undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Those treatments coincided with a tumultuous stretch for Steve in his new role as president of hockey operations with the Senators. In that same window, the club was stripped of a first-round draft pick, had Shane Pinto suspended for 41 games and relieved both general manager Pierre Dorion and head coach D.J. Smith of their respective duties. Steve ultimately assumed the duties of general manager himself on December 31, 2023.
During all of this, Steve would routinely commute between Ottawa and Oakville to be by Susannah’s side for her chemo treatments. But on the occasions when his job prevented him from travelling home, Susannah’s support network stepped up.
“The support of her family and in particular her friends in Oakville was extraordinary,” says Steve. “They were with her every step of the way.”
And when Susannah was able to ring the bell inside the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton this past February, her youngest sister was by her side for the poignant moment. When thinking back to that day, Susannah’s voice cracks with emotion.
“I was able to get off the chair and walk to ring the bell. It was emotional for sure because everybody is clapping for you, but they don’t even know you,” says Susannah, wiping away tears. “And you have this support from strangers and this wonderful connection. And you look around the room and you suddenly feel for the people who aren’t as healthy as you.”
The Staios family has that moment of Susannah ringing the bell captured on video and can lean on it whenever they need a moment of perspective.
“It’s such a proud moment for her,” says Steve. “I think she realized how much toughness and courage she really has.”
Steve and Susannah are teenage sweethearts, having met while Steve was playing OHL hockey in the early 1990s. Their relationship has spanned more than three decades and Susannah’s cancer journey has been one of the most important chapters in their story.
“It’s been a rough year, but I wouldn’t change anything. So much good has come out of this,” says Susannah. “It just adds to our family’s story. It brought the four of us closer together.
“I’m so proud of Susannah. Her encouragement for me to continue to do what I was doing, it’s really hard to put into words,” says Steve. “You never think you’re going to be faced with something like this. We had some really tough days and really tough nights. I always knew Susannah was incredible before this, but this has taken things to another level.”
As the Senators recognize Hockey Fights Cancer Night at Canadian Tire Centre tomorrow, Susannah wants fellow cancer patients to understand that better days are on the horizon.
“It just builds your perspective and confidence. Your whole outlook on life is better. I think I’m more patient now with everyone and everything,” says Susannah. “I want people to realize it’s not the end. There is an amazing life after you’ve gone through that difficult time.”
