The Capitals had just started a three game road trip and

Todd Reirden’s son faces ongoing battle of his own

Todd Reirden was in Las Vegas the first week of canada goose buy uk December and in the thick of his first season as the Washington Capitals’ head coach, weathering the usual challenges of that role and another specific to him. The Capitals had just started a three game road trip and Reirden’s team was showing signs of fatigue after last season’s long playoff canada goose careers uk run. While he worked to piece together two top lines from a forward corps nursing multiple injuries, his thoughts also were back in Washington, where his 16 year old son had just been admitted to the hospital.

Reirden’s wife, Shelby, called the ambulance for their son, Travis, on Dec. 3, the day of the Capitals’ game against the Golden Knights and the start of six days on the road for the team. For the next week, Shelby was with Travis in the hospital while Todd traveled with the Capitals, and for an event that would have shaken most households, it was unfortunately routine for the Reirdens.

uk canada goose outlet “These things seem to always happen during a road trip,” Shelby said. uk canada goose outlet

Travis was born with Common Variable Immunodeficiency, a disorder that leaves his body unable to defend against bacteria canada goose outlet vancouver and viruses. He could wake up with a crippling migraine or a fever or something else entirely that forces yet another hospital visit, or he might actually feel well enough to get to school on time. There’s no way to know what each morning will bring, and his everyday life is a delicate balance between trying to be a normal teenager and worrying about what will happen to him when a classmate sneezes nearby.

Canada Goose Outlet Travis hasn’t told kids at school why he’s been absent roughly 60 days this year, and outside of telling canada goose kensington parka uk a handful of players and assistant coaches, Todd has similarly kept mum about what’s been going on behind the scenes of his first season as an NHL head coach. The job alone is a lot of pressure, but adding to it was that when the Capitals promoted him to replace Barry Trotz, who resigned last summer, it marked just the fifth time in league history the reigning Stanley Cup winners have changed coaches. As he’s guided Washington back to the playoffs and atop the Metropolitan Division in canada goose parka uk a quest to repeat as champions, his family’s significant hardships have kept the team’s occasional struggles in proper perspective. Canada Goose Outlet

[Amid Capitals’ playoff proven roster, Nic Dowd and Nick Jensen are key postseason rookies]

canada goose factory sale “It’s not an easy one to go to sleep on the road when there are some things that are going on that are not fun, and my wife and him are having to deal with it on their own,” Todd said. “I feel at times that I’m letting him down.” canada goose factory sale

‘I really wish I could be normal’

canadian goose jacket From the moment her baby boy entered this world, Shelby Reirden knew something was wrong. Travis was two weeks early, and he had to stay in the hospital because his lungs weren’t fully developed and he had jaundice. She noticed he wasn’t gaining weight, and when she held him, his breath smelled off to her, like acetone. canadian goose jacket

“Nobody else, even the doctors, believed me,” she said.

The Reirdens were constantly moving at the start of Travis’s life, when Todd’s NHL playing days were winding down. He bounced around the American Hockey League before going to Europe, and as Travis continued to get everything from ear and sinus infections to warts on the bottom of his feet, each new destination meant starting from scratch with new doctors. They might fix his current ailment, then another would crop up.

canada goose coats on sale Shelby exhausted WebMD, https://www.thebookstop.biz and while Todd felt he could have played two or three more years abroad, he decided to call it quits so Travis could see doctors stateside. Common Variable Immunodeficiency affects cheap canada goose womens roughly 1 in 30,000, but most cases aren’t diagnosed until a person reaches 20 or 30. Travis’s symptoms were so extreme that the disorder was detected when he was in third grade, just as Todd’s coaching career was picking up as an assistant in Pittsburgh. He had spent years wondering why his son wasn’t tougher, and the news had him wracked with guilt. canada goose coats on sale

canada goose uk shop “It’s sad for me because I don’t really know the Canada Goose Parka life that he lives,” Todd said. “For some reason, I never get sick. I don’t know why, but I just don’t. I have never missed a day of work or practice. He lives a different life than I do, and he sees that, and he’s like, ‘Man, I wish I could be like you.'” canada goose uk shop

[Capitals’ title defense will begin against red hot, scrappy Hurricanes]

The treatment cheap canada goose focuses on immunoglobulin replacement therapy transfusions of human plasma, the liquid part of the body’s blood that carries the antibodies Travis needs. A nurse brings a cooler of plasma along with an IV to the Reirdens’ home once a month. When he was 9, Travis was so terrified of needles that he once said he had to go to the bathroom then tried to run away to avoid getting pricked. Scar tissue has built up in his arm from the numerous transfusions, which makes finding his vein even more painful. He’s now so used to the four hour process he tends to just doze off during it.

canada goose store The transfusions have helped him be less susceptible to illnesses, but his reactions to the plasma vary with each treatment. He has to miss school every time he canada goose offers uk has one, and since most of his classmates don’t know the scope of his condition or that he has one at all, they’ll occasionally rib him about skipping. The best he can hope for is three weeks of perfect attendance, though even that might include some late arrivals depending on how Travis is feeling when he wakes up. canada goose store

“I don’t want to be a sob story,” Travis said. “I don’t want my friends always feeling bad for me. When I’m there, I just want to be part of the group. I don’t want people thinking about, ‘Oh, I hope I don’t cough near him because he’s going to get sick.’ I really wish I could be normal.”

Stability at last

Canada Goose online As Todd worked his way up the coaching ladder, his contract negotiations started with ensuring a certain standard of insurance to cover Travis’s medical bills. Salary was secondary. Shelby is often on the front lines of helping manage Travis’s erratic health every day, and Todd’s role is as the provider, something Travis appreciates even if it means his dad is away from home more than he’d like. Canada Goose online

“He’s certainly my biggest fan and supporter,” Todd said. “Whether I was a player or now as a coach, he’s always there for me and always rooting for me and cheering me on and cheering our team on. Then it’s sad that I’m not always in town to return the favor. That’s the difficult part of what we’re doing, and he understands that part of the reason he’s able canada goose uk harrods to get these treatments is the job I have and the insurance plan we have here with the Capitals.”

Todd Reirden gives instructions during a practice. (Susan Walsh)

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was the first player to approach Travis and thank him for loaning Todd to the team during the season. Star center Sidney Crosby gave Travis a signed Sports Illustrated cover and a stick with the note, “Great job battling through school this year with your sickness and thanks for letting your dad help us out.” Todd’s tenure in Pittsburgh ended in 2014, when Dan Bylsma’s full coaching staff was let go, but it wasn’t long before Trotz reached out about a position canada goose outlet new jersey as an assistant in Washington.

“I was just so in awe of the fact that my dad could end up coaching Alex Ovechkin,” Travis said. “I mean, he’d already coached Crosby, but Ovi is pretty unbelievable.”

Travis was actually most star struck at meeting Trotz, who he admired for his 17 year tenure with the Nashville Predators.

“I thought that was insane because we’d moved around so much,” Travis said. “The first thing I did was I walked up to him and I was like, ‘Seventeen years, you are a legend.'”

[As Barry Trotz faces his former team, it’s mostly water under the bridge]

buy canada goose jacket cheap Before this season, the closest the Reirdens ever got to owning a home in the city in which Todd was playing or coaching was Pittsburgh, when they moved into a brand new subdivision. They were renting the house, but the owner was eager to sell. Then Shelby realized all of the dust from the nearby construction was causing Travis’s asthma to flare up, another symptom of his immune deficiency. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose black friday sale “I had Travis sleeping with me because he was having so much trouble,” Shelby said. “I wake up one night and the dog is jumping on his chest. Travis was turning blue. So, I called an ambulance, and we were back to the hospital again.” canada goose black friday sale.