With a new National Hockey League season about to begin, a Maritime fan is preparing to take a trip of a lifetime to see his favourite team, in person, for the first time.
Paul Leger has been a supporter of the Montreal Canadiens for as long as he can remember,“I never thought I would go and see a hockey game. I almost gave up,” says Leger. “And they said it was going to happen and I wondered, well is it going to really happen? Then pieces started to come together and it just floored me.”
Leger is a 23-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and has been coping with post-traumatic stress disorder for years.
“I went over on the UN tour in Bosnia and I came back with post-traumatic stress,” he says.
At 58, Leger has called Saint John nursing home Loch Lomond Villa home for about a decade. Workers say it isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time, a Maritime nursing home has encountered PTSD.
“Nursing homes have had to change. People living in our communities are disabled for a variety of reasons,” says Loch Lomond Villa CEO Cindy Donovan. “It doesn’t matter if they are 100, or 30, or 50 years of age, they need help, they need care.”
“I can’t say enough words for Paul, because when he first came to Loch Lomond Villa, he was in rough shape,” says his wife Carme. “It means the world to him.”
A Villa employee will accompany Leger on his trip to Montreal, which was arranged by corporate sponsor Coast Tire.
“Friends in Montreal are going to pick up Paul and Andrew and take them to the Bell Centre in the morning. We’re hoping to squeeze them into a practice, so that could be a surprise,” says John Correia of Coast Tire.
In addition to seeing his beloved Habs in action, Leger will tour the Bell Centre, the locker rooms, and have chance to meet some of the players.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron
