Devils veteran Brian Boyle — who was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in September and was back on the ice a month later — is enjoying a career year. Before the holidays, he sat down with The Post’s Steve Serby.
Q: You called your wife, Lauren, after the original tests in September revealed that you had an abnormally high number of white blood cells.
A: I called her and said, “We gotta go get this checked out, I think it might be Lyme disease,” not knowing what it was.
Q: You thought it was Lyme disease?
A: I was hoping.
Q: Because most of the other alternatives were much worse.
A: It was like, “You have cancer, we just don’t know what kind,” basically.
Q: What was going through your mind before you learned it was chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) — a form of blood and bone marrow cancer — that would be treatable?
A: I was petrified. I just immediately thought of my kids and my wife. I kind of thought like this doesn’t seem fair. We’re a younger couple with young kids and … are my kids even gonna remember me? Like, am I gonna die? Is that fair to them, growing up with no dad? What’s my wife gonna do?
Q: What was the waiting period like before you learned exactly what it was?
A: A couple of days — it felt like an eternity.
Q: Do you remember the first conversation you had with your parents before you knew the diagnosis?
A: I was trying to be sensitive to them. Because I couldn’t imagine my kid going through something like that. I said, “I feel good, I feel fine, so don’t worry,” just all that bulls–t pretty much, to be honest with you (chuckle).
Q: How upset or how nervous were your parents at that point?
A: My mother [Judy] is remarkable … unwavering faith. So you’d have to ask her, but speaking with her … whatever, if it was five times in a day ’cause I was nervous or scared, or anytime I needed some reassurance, she was unbelievable. My dad [Artie, a kidney and lung cancer survivor], he was the same. He knew, obviously firsthand, how brutal that first conversation is. But he was scared, he was definitely scared, too. He was on it, though, he was very proactive getting the prayers out, the word out. It was tough, ’cause I don’t want them to worry, like they got enough to worry about. I didn’t want my wife to worry, and she obviously was very worried. We were trying to find positives, we found like our kids are so young that they won’t remember this. They’re not gonna be affected by this. It’s not gonna rock their world like it will ours.
Q: Did you think during that agonizing period about what your father had endured?
A: A hundred percent. I remembered looking at him when he was really sick, before they knew anything was wrong, and I didn’t look like that. I remember his skin color, and his weight, his energy level was crazy low. The color of my face was OK, I was just really, really tired at the time. I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired. And some motivation was gone — towards the end of the summer I was playing golf, and I remember not even caring if I finished the round or not — I’d play 36 [holes] a day if my wife would ever let me (chuckle).
Q: Did you have trouble sleeping?
A: Oh yeah. I had like an anvil on my chest the whole time. … It felt like anxiety.
Q: Did your father give you a pep talk?
A: He just reminded me about we don’t know what the plan is, we don’t know what is gonna happen.
Q: He’s always been an inspiration for you?
A: Yeah, he’s my hero.
Q: Because?
A: Where do you want me to start? As a young boy watching him, in any sport he wanted to do, he seemed to be the best at it. As an adolescent, I see him dwindle away to almost nothing and come back stronger than ever with one kidney now (smile). The responsibilities of providing for a family as large as ours [13 children], giving us the opportunities that he gave us. And all of this is directly tied in with my mom, too. My parents as a team, I mean, there really wasn’t anything they couldn’t take on.
Q: Describe the day you received the definitive diagnosis from Dr. Jennifer Reeder at Summit Medical Group.
A: She said this is like a win, depending upon how you respond to treatment. You don’t have to do a bone marrow transplant, and the chemo and the radiation, which is a bear for a couple of years of your life, and you can hopefully get back to playing. That’s like a 180 from what we feared. It was a very positive day (laugh). It could have been an acute form where you had to … and we’re not having this conversation right now.
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Q: The texts from your mother.
A: Actually it’s on my other phone … like novels of Bible verses, and stories and factual things that have happened, even just in her life, and in our lives that we’ve seen … the miracles that we’ve seen. I’ve said it many times: We’ve come out on the other side of this. … Especially my wife and I, we’ve come out much, I think, better people. Our faith is even stronger, and I think that what we’ve kind of gone through the last couple of months — which is more than just me — has tested us, beyond anything we could have imagined.
So we’re going through this whole thing and a couple of weeks later, my son [Declan, 2 ¹/₂] has a huge growth on his chin. He has a tumor on his chin. It looks like it’s growing from the bone out. This was a couple of weeks after me. The reason I tell you this is because of the amount of prayers we’ve had, too. They were pretty concerned and pretty well convinced that he had Ewing’s Sarcoma. It ended up being what’s called an AVM, basically just bad wiring of blood vessels in his chin, going through the bone that he had since birth. They thought it was a tumor that was starting in the bone. I wouldn’t be playing without the strength and support of my wife. … My thing was a cakewalk compared to that. That’s my worst nightmare. That’s any parent’s worst nightmare.
Q: What did you tell your father when you spoke to him about Declan?
A: “Dad, what do I do? This is my kid, this is my guy, my little buddy?” He didn’t know what to say.
Q: Thankfully, it wasn’t a tumor.
A: It’s going down. The doctor had tears in his eyes when he told me it wasn’t what he thought it was.
Q: Declan’s personality?
A: He’s got a huge personality (laugh). He’s a big kid, he’s got a huge vocabulary, and he’s pretty demanding of our attention. He’s wonderful, he’s so much fun.
Q: He already likes hockey?
A: We’ve got him on skates, he’s not there yet (laugh). He wants to stand on the bench and watch me shoot around.
Q: Your daughter is 7 months old.
A: She adores him. Big smile all the time.
Q: You take two pills in the morning and two at night on an empty stomach.
A: Gamedays are when it gets tricky. I try to eat as much as I can right after the game, then I gotta wait two hours, take the pills. It’s usually about 1:00, 1:15.
Q: How much longer do you want to play?
A: Till they kick me out.
Q: Why did you sign with the Devils?
A: No. 1, I really want to win. I’ve been close, and it’s really hard to do. I felt needed here, and I said if I’m needed there, I’m gonna play my best hockey.
Q: At 33, are you a better hockey player than you were five years ago?
A: Definitely.
Q: Describe rookie Nico Hischier.
A: He puts a lot on his own shoulders. He wants to be the No. 1 guy here. He’s a humble kid, he works really hard. He’s a great teammate.
Q: Jesper Bratt.
A: He’s got a knack in the offensive zone. He can shoot the puck. Another humble kid who works hard.
Q: Coach John Hynes.
A: I think he’s phenomenal. He cares. Every day he wants to do what’s best for our team.
Q: Which was more heartbreaking, losing in the 2014 Cup finals with the Rangers or in the 2015 Cup finals with the Lightning?
A: ’14 was really tough ’cause there were three overtime games, and ’15 I thought we had control of the series.
Q: How hungry are you to win a Cup?
A: Starving (smile).
Q: Favorite Rangers memory?
A: Celebrating when we beat Montreal [to reach the 2014 Cup finals].
Q: What was it like when your Rangers days ended?
A: I didn’t hear much from ’em, so I just kind of thought they weren’t interested. I loved my time there. I think it worked out the way it was supposed to.
Q: Who are athletes in other sports you admire?
A: Derek Jeter, obviously Tom Brady, Bobby Orr.
Q: Are your Patriots going to win the Super Bowl?
A: I hope so. … You’re not gonna witness anything like this again, I don’t think, with [Bill] Belichick and Brady.
Q: If you could pick the brain of one hockey player in history, who would it be?
A: Probably Mario [Lemieux]. He went through some back issues, and Hodgkins disease, and I remember just watching him play, it looked like he was playing with little kids (laugh). He, especially later in his career, slowed down a little bit speed-wise, but he still made the game look so easy. I’d just want to see how he saw it, and also how he dealt with what he dealt with.
Q: Favorite New York City things?
A: Playoff times, walking from the Garden to the West Village after a practice at the Garden. Those were my best memories.
Q: Why is that?
A: ’Cause it was June, and I was still playing hockey in New York City.
Q: Nineteen dinner guests?
A: Jesus, Abe Lincoln, my parents, my 12 brothers and sisters, my wife and children.
Q: You’ve been touched by cancer-stricken children, and you get notes from cancer victims.
A: If I can be a positive thing in their lives for just a moment, it’s a lot of motivation, it’s almost a responsibility of mine now just to be at my best.
Q: What do you think you learned about yourself following this ordeal?
A: I’m a very lucky man. The amount of great people — and I don’t use that term lightly — in my life, and the amount of love that I get even on a daily basis is off the charts. You want to have a great career, and you want to make money for your family, and you want to have fun in your life and you want to do all these things, and then … ’cause you think about your mortality when you get need like this. And I just look back at all the people in my life and friends and family that I have. And it’s remarkable the amount of wonderful people that I’ve been able to come across, and call friends. I’m just so thankful for that.
Q: You’ve heard from former teammates and coaches and management from all your previous teams.
A: Guys I haven’t played with, guys who found my number through other guys that just wanted to extend their support … a nice letter from Pittsburgh and Sid [Crosby] and Sully [coach Mike Sullivan], the whole team signed. You feel guilty almost. It’s impossible to properly thank all the people that have reached out and taken time and thought of me and my family and said prayers for me and my family. I wish there was a way that I could do it better (chuckle). But it doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m very thankful for that.
Q: Any favorite Christmas growing up?
A: They were all tons of fun, looking forward to the whole thing, and the amount of wrapping paper we had … everybody just being together in their pajamas was pretty awesome (smile).
Q: What will this Christmas mean to you?
A: The way I feel about the whole thing is I’ve been gifted with so many great blessings, and reminded of those things, especially in the last few months. The greatest gifts of my life are my family, my kids, my wife. We get to all be together in a nice home we have here in Jersey all together. I’m just excited to sit there and watch Declan open up presents, and have a cup of coffee on the couch (chuckle). Rest.
Q: Who is the luckiest man on earth?
A: I might be biased, but I think it’s me.