At a St. John’s softball field of dreams, Ty Campbell, 19, steps up to the plate for Team Nova Scotia’s men’s squad.
Cheerleading from the sidelines is Garth Perrin, a man the players affectionately know as G.
That either of them made it to the Canada Games at all is nothing short of remarkable. Both were battling for their lives in hospital in Halifax in back-to-back health crises that had the team, defending silver medallists, focused on a life lesson that goes well beyond sport.
Perrin, who survived a staphylococcus infection that spread into his arm and spine, and then a bout of COVID, arrived just in time to greet the team after a practice on Tuesday. In early May, his health condition forced him to give up coaching duties in the weeks leading up to the games.
“Blessed, I guess, to be here,” he said, his voice halting, during an interview. He travelled with his wife and daughter, taking the 16-hour ferry ride to Newfoundland. He was recently released after three months in hospital and will be on the mend for six months to a year, he said.
Perrin was determined to get to St. John’s to root the players on, as they did him, while he was in hospital.
“Having those guys come in that last week and so on, and you know, for them to give up one of the few nights off they had this summer spoke a lot of them in their character,” he said.
One of the players who showed up to support him was Campbell. In an unfortunate coincidence, the teenager was also fighting for his life in the same neurosurgery ward at the QEII Health Sciences Centre just months earlier.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a different journey than some would have,” said Campbell, who’s playing at his first Canada Games — after recovering from two surgeries to repair an 18-millimetre brain aneurysm. Five millimetres, he’s learned, is considered severe.
In December, after a metal stent slipped out of position, Campbell started suffering symptoms similar to a stroke. He was rushed into emergency surgery in January, and woke up paralyzed on the left side of his body.
“I didn’t really know what it would look like at the start of the year for myself, but I’m just really thankful for everyone I had along the way,” he said, crediting his family, medical team, friends and teammates who’ve helped him on his journey of “ups and downs.”
Campbell said he’s not 100 per cent, but he’s well enough to play in the field and to co-captain the team with Cameron Euloth and Camden Weatherbee.
“We all love Ty and like it wouldn’t even be close to the same as it is now without him, you know, we all rely on him super heavy. He reads our lineup before the games and gets the boys fired up,” said Weatherbee.
Perrin is also full of emotion to watch his 16-year-old son, David, represent Nova Scotia. He’s a pitcher and infielder.
Most of the athletes, save two from Cape Breton, grew up within a short drive of each other in East Hants and Colchester County. Through these adversities they’ve grown even tighter.
“We’re a brotherhood,” said Campbell. “I wouldn’t be here right now without any of those people.”
Perrin is also grateful for Jeff Fraser and Robin Isenor, who stepped in to coach the team.
“We almost felt an obligation to the sport, to these kids, and we just jumped in and took it on as our own,” said Fraser.
Team Nova Scotia beat British Columbia 4-2 in its opener Wednesday morning and was 3-3 after six games going into the final day of preliminary-round action Friday. The gold medal contest is on Sunday.
This “battle-tested” team can find resilience and motivation in themselves to win, said Perrin.
“[I] shouldn’t be an inspiration so much as I want them to do this for themselves, rather than for me, and to represent their families, their communities,” Perrin said.
Two of the team’s leaders recently battled life-threatening medical conditions. But as Elizabeth Chiu reports, they made it to the games.
