Introducing Denna Laing (Need The Stoolies Help)
Click To Buy A Denna Laing shirt. All profits go directly to the Denna Laing Fund
I feel like I’ve been in the absolute closet with this story. I just caught wind of it yesterday. I’m not sure how Feitleberg or Rear Admiral didn’t blog this already since they are our resident hockey guys. I’m guessing I’m in the minority about not knowing about this story yet? To be honest I didn’t even know there was a Women’s Winter Classic, but there was. And one of Boston’s players Denna Laing suffered a spinal cord injury early in the game and was rushed to the hospital.
This post from her facebook page sums up what happened in a nutshell.
From Denna Laing’s Facebook Page
Denna has completed just over a week in the Intensive Care Unit at Mass General Hospital receiving care from an incredibly dedicated and talented group of doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and therapists. We can’t thank them enough for all that they are doing for Denna. As you know Denna was rushed to Mass General from the NWHL’s Outdoor Women’s Classic on New Years Eve and immediately underwent emergency surgery to repair several fractured and shattered vertebrae. The operation lasted over 7 hours. Since then, the breathing tube that she needed initially has been removed and a tracheostomy was performed which should help her breathing and allow her to speak soon. Fortunately, our cousin Kelly Ross has been constantly at her bedside and has developed into an expert lip reader. Additionally, Denna has been constantly battling the effects of a spinal cord injury trauma such as pneumonia, muscle spasms, fever and other symptoms related to the injury. During this time, Denna has shown some movement in her left arm, limited movement in her right arm, and no feeling below the chest. Denna has expressed a desire to start communicating directly with the assistance of us and other family members as soon as possible. It’s hard to see Denna in this state, but she remains positive and strong, which helps us through this difficult time.
We sincerely appreciate all your well wishes and continued prayers,
From Brianna and Lexie Laing
?#?2Denna4ever?
Now this is the part that really touched me. Denna released her first statement since the accident 2 days ago and despite what she went through still said it was the best day of her life. She literally said that. Here is what she wrote:
For a long time I have been looking for a new challenge. Even though I was not expecting it be this, here we go. Lets start from the beginning, the best day of my life. I woke up on a beautiful 31st of December and got my dunks because ?#?required?. I drove to the rink and walked in with the pack, my pod, and my gold pumps. When we got in there, there were individual name plates and merchandise from the NHL. All I could think about was it was like Christmas. We immediately all had to try everything on. Here are some of the candids of the gals. Then had to sit around for about an hour and then try getting on and off the bus with our skates! We got a police escort and we thought we could find TB12 because we pulled up right into the player tunnels. We got out into some small locker rooms. Bobby gave us his pre game speech and we walked on and saw the field for the first time. I had debated back and forth whether or not to bring my phone and man am I glad I brought it. It was the most beautiful hockey rink I’ve ever seen. After those first few minutes of skating around tragedy struck. You know the rest…. but I dont want you to feel bad for me. This is a moment to remember for Women’s Hockey. We made history that day and I would never take those moments back.
Thank you for the moments.
Love,
XO Denna
Maybe the bravest most inspiration thing I’ve ever read. It honestly moved me. Her family has set up a fund to help her deal with the long road ahead. I told the family we’d like to help and with their permission we’d sell tshirts with 100% of the profit going to Denna. They responded yesterday with this.
“Hi Dave. That would be an amazing idea! Thank you for your generosity and support. I know it means a lot to Denna and the rest of the family. Thank you again and Viva La Stool!”
Of course they said Viva La Stool at the end. Of course they are Stoolies. Well its time to activate our readership. I always brag how great our readers are in times like these and it’s time to prove it again. I know people will step up because you always do and this one hits home. A local hockey player who is one of our own needs our help. It couldn’t be more Boston or more Barstool if we tried. And yes as always with these causes 100% of the profit goes directly to Denna. We don’t take a nickel.