NHL veteran enforcer Kelly Chase reflects on his battle with cancer

In November last year, Kelly Chase, a former St. Louis Blues enforcer and broadcaster, received a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia. He underwent around 70 days and nights of treatment at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, eventually achieving remission.

That's when he was persuaded to visit the Enterprise Center by Wayne Gretzky, despite not initially wanting to go there. His wife, Raelynn Chase, accompanied him on this visit. There, he received an outpouring of support, moving many to tears.

Recently, Kelly Chase shared his story through The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford. In a bold statement, Chase said:

“I lost my dad when I was young, so I had to take care of people. When someone dies in our family, I go pick up the pieces and say, ‘All right, here’s what we’re going to do.’ When someone is sick in our family, I take charge. When a crisis happens with one of my companies, I take charge

"But I couldn’t get a hold of this cancer, so I had to say, ‘I need help. I don’t know how to beat this.’ I needed to get my arms around what I was fighting.”

Kelly Chase further expressed:

“I don’t mind fighting. I’ll fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. But I like to see the size of the guy, and I didn’t know the size of the guy. I didn’t know what hand he fought with. I didn’t know if he could take a punch. It turns out, he’s all of that.”

Kelly Chase feels lucky for all the support

Kelly and Raelynn Chase have three sons: Will, 24, Ben, 22 and Luke, 20. Kelly Chase has received constant support from his family, friends and the NHL community.

Chase said:

"I feel pretty lucky with the support system that I have. I realized when I got sick, I meant more to people than just the Blues. The outreach has been off the charts. I have pages and pages of text messages, and with the letters and baskets coming to the hospital, it’s been overwhelming.

"There will be a lot of paybacks coming once I get this behind me. I think I’m going to have a much better sense of awareness of things around me ... especially helping people."

Speaking about his fight with cancer, Chase said:

“The important thing is believing that you’re going to get better, fighting like you’re going to get better, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Kelly Chase has also started a fundraiser called Puck Cancer, with the proceeds going to cancer research.