Brian Boyle Diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

According to the Devils Twitter account and reporters Chris Ryan of the Star Ledger and Amanda Stein of the Devils website, newly signed forward Brian Boyle has been diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).

CML is “a type of cancer of the bone marrow” according to a tweet from Stein and is “largely treatable” she said. Her information came from team physician Dr. Michael Farber.

Hopefully it was caught in time and, with Boyle being a professional athlete in tip-top condition, he should be able to beat this. As I wrote on Twitter, hockey is almost secondary to his getting better.

Here’s wishing Brian Boyle all the best in his battle with CML and hoping that he will be well enough to play this season.

Cancer is a horrible disease and it helps that the NHL does the “Hockey Fights Cancer” initiative. Almost every fan and person within hockey has been affected in some way by the disease and that is always made clear when the NHL steps up and helps raise money for the cause.

This is not the first time that Brian Boyle’s family has been touched by this disease. He wrote a piece on ESPN.com back in 2014 when he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning about his father, Arthur, and his battle with renal cell carcinoma, kidney cancer. Arthur Boyle beat cancer and had a clean bill of health as of the writing of that article by Brian.

Again, hopefully Brian Boyle is able to defeat cancer as thoroughly as his dad did and come back strong. All the best to Brian Boyle as he gets down to winning his battle. He seems like he is already of a strong mindset, saying to Twitter in reply to a tweet by the Devils: “My mindset is on Oct. 7. I don’t like missing games. I feel as close to normal as you can feel.”

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