By Allen Cameron
Calgary Herald
There are 18 meaningful games in a Canadian Football League regular season for the Calgary Stampeders.
But this one always means a little more than the rest for veteran Stamps safety Wes Lysack.
The Stamps’ Pink Power Game, which helps raise funds for, and awareness of, the Canadian Cancer Society, was the creation of Peni Hufnagel, the wife of Stamps coach and general manager John Hufnagel, and when she was looking for a Stamps player to be the public face of the program, Lysack was more than ready, willing and able.
But he didn’t just want to be the guy who poses for a couple of pictures and makes a short speech. Uh-uh. Lysack’s family has been hit too hard by cancer over the years for him to make just a token effort.
At the age of 10, he lost his paternal grandmother, Georgie Lysack, to breast cancer. Three years ago, his maternal grandmother, Jean Hillyard, was diagnosed with the disease when a mammogram showed a small lump.
But when the Stamps and Lions hit the field, Hillyard is expected to be in the stands, watching her grandson continue his splendid CFL career.
“She’s basically fully recovered now,” says Lysack, 32. “I mean, they say you’re never cancer-free, but she had another mammogram recently and nothing showed up. So it was a pretty exciting day for the whole family.
“I obviously knew (Georgie Lysack), but I was 10 years old and you don’t really grasp much. But my Grandma Jean has been a huge part of my life. She’s more than a grandma; she’s one of the better friends I’ve ever had, and we have a pretty neat relationship. So it hit me pretty hard when I found out there was the possibility of losing her.”
Lysack has become one of the faces of the Canadian Cancer Society. He makes a ton of appearances (often unpublicized) on behalf of the society, and has endeavoured to learn all he can about the disease, and the ongoing search for a cure.
“I had been looking for something to attach myself to, to kind of help out and make a difference, so that was the start of it.” he says. “And from there, to tell you the truth, it’s grown into a lot bigger role.
“I’ve learned more and more about cancer, seen how many people it affects, seen how many different kinds of cancer there are, and I’ve wanted to do more and more every year. And I have no problem at all doing it for them.
”I hear it on a daily basis; people let me know that somebody they know is going through a battle, or has won or lost their fight. People probably get tired of me saying it, but I can’t say it enough: cancer will affect everybody, directly or indirectly, multiple times in their lives.
”It comes in many forms, and it’s not selective about who it goes after, whether it’s kids, older people or in between.”
Lysack will take on another challenge later this year when he participates in the Pepsi Refresh Project. He’ll compete with player reps from the seven other CFL teams for a $50,000 grant from the soft drink company; fans will vote on whose charitable plan for the money is the best.
Lysack’s proposal: to use the $50,000 on providing cancer care kits to the estimated 16,000 newly diagnosed cancer cases per year in Alberta. The kit would feature literature aimed at both the patient and his or her support network, to help them with any questions they might have about what has to be scary scenario.
“When somebody is diagnosed with cancer, they go through a situation where they don’t know what’s next,” he says. “They don’t know what they’re supposed to do, who they’re supposed to contact, where do they go for certain things, are there support groups — it’s just the shock of the situation.
”So it’s about letting them know that people are there for them.
“Even the little things; people don’t realize when you start going to radiation treatment how dry your mouth gets. So bring a bottle of water and Chapstick. Little things like that.”
As caring an individual as Lysack is when it comes to his charitable work, Lysack, ironically, has a remarkably different persona when it comes to his work on the football field.
He’s regarded as one of the hardest-hitting safeties in the game, and his game face generally consists of a scowl.
“You know what? He’s a tough cookie to crack,” says defensive end and road-trip roommate Mike Labinjo. “A bunch of guys always call him The Angry Man, because he’s always got a chip on his shoulder. No one knows why. I think he was born that way. He came out of the womb angry. But that’s just him.
”Off the field? He’s a different guy. But put a helmet on him, and his alter ego shows up. His bad alter ego. Good for us. Bad for the opposing team.”
Lysack is well aware of how folks perceive him, by the way.
“I don’t know, a lot of people seem to think I’m pretty angry off the field, too,” he says with a laugh. “The new guy, Ahmad Carroll, said to me the other day, ‘Man, why do you look so mad all the time?’ And I’ve heard that from so many different people. I guess that’s just the way I am. I’m not actually mad, but I seem like I am.”
Hillyard, though, sees right through that angry countenance, and sees it for what it really is.
“You know what it’s called? Focus,” she says. “He’s not angry; he’s focused. And he’s always been that way in any sport he’s been in.
“I think he’s one of the most honest people I’ve met in my life; Wes says it as it is.”
Lysack never lacks in motivation, of course; he wouldn’t have lasted nearly eight seasons in the CFL otherwise. But for added energy in the Pink Power Game, all he needs to do is look for Grandma Jean in the stands.
“To see what she went through — once you meet her, you will see,” he says. “She’s one of those ladies who’s always put together, regardless of her age. Her hair is always done, her makeup’s on, her outfit matches, everything is perfect. And she was no different when she went through her battle. She didn’t let it affect her life; she handled it with grace and beauty, and it was inspirational and really neat to see.
“It made me realize why she’s such a special lady and why she’s meant so much to me in my life.”