Second Wind – The Gunnar and Boomer Esiason Story

The average time for a shift in ice hockey is between 30 and 45 seconds. It begins when a player steps over the bench and takes the ice while charging up and down the court at full speed. They throw their bodies at the puck, the opponents and the boards and give everything they have. When the shift ends, the player returns to the bench, dripping with sweat and exhausted, chest heaving as their lungs work overtime.

An average fan watching a hockey game takes between six and 10 breaths during the length of a hockey shift. However, a player probably takes closer to 12 to 14 breaths per breath. shift. While no one in the arena counts their breaths, no one is more attuned to the power of breath than Gunnar Esiason.

Gunnar Esiason isn’t like most hockey players — his ability to complete a shift often depended on how his cystic fibrosis affected him that day. Throughout his journey with CF, hockey became a lifeline in some of his darkest moments.

“In some ways, for me, there was like a … normality that was driven into my life, despite everything I had to deal with,” Gunnar told ESPN. “Hockey gave me that opportunity, didn’t it? When I was sick, it was kind of like the release from CF.”

Gunnar, son of former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and television legend Boomer Esiason, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 25 years old. His story is featured in the latest E60 film, “Second Wind,” which airs on December 24 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Cystic fibrosis, or CF, is a genetic disorder that causes the body to produce a thick mucus that can clog the pancreas and lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. There are also digestive complications that accompany the diagnosis. About 40,000 people in the United States and 100,000 people worldwide suffer from the disorder. At the time of Gunnar’s diagnosis, CF patients typically died before reaching adulthood.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but the condition can be treated with daily medication and therapy.

“As I got older, (hockey) was actually kind of like the barometer of my health,” Gunnar said. “I could feel that I felt good when I could enjoy playing.”

Coming from a notable sporting family, Gunnar’s passion and participation was encouraged from an early age – chronic condition be damned.

“My parents were very intentional about encouraging me to have the life I wanted,” Gunnar recalled. “When I was playing youth hockey, my dad was the dad knocking on the glass while I was out there on the ice. I remember just having so much fun and thinking, OK, it was worth it.”

During the majority of Gunnar’s hockey career, he was only able to handle shorter shifts than the rest of his teammates, and he often coughed and spat up mucus onto the ice. But despite the ups and downs, hockey was always there for him.

“I think the way to look at it … he was able to play hockey and so it was like little victories, you know, so he had a great hockey season, it was healthy for him to be out there skating,” said Gunnar’s mother, Cheryl.

While Boomer and Cheryl explored treatments for Gunnar’s condition, Boomer would also take him to New York Rangers games, including playoff games and a Stanley Cup Final during the Rangers’ legendary 1994 run.

“I just wanted to make sure he had a fulfilling life, given the fact that we were told it was going to be somewhat condensed when he was born,” Boomer said.

Outside of his skills on the ice, Gunnar followed in his famous father’s footsteps and joined his high school football team. But despite Gunnar’s passion, Boomer saw something his son didn’t.

“He knew I was a much better hockey player, so he told me very frankly, ‘You’re not a very good football player,'” Gunnar said. “Let’s think about the hockey season in three or four months, and then let’s think about college in 12 months.”

The hockey passion in the Esiason clan does not stop with Gunnar. His sister, Sydney, is married to NHL player Matt Martin, who is currently on duty with the rival New York Islanders.

Regardless of who the Esiasons are rooting for, the family has always rooted for Gunnar in his battle with cystic fibrosis. But the trajectory of his struggle with CF was never a straight line. While sports remained an important aspect of Gunnar’s life, CF caused him to miss his senior year of high school football.

Gunnar managed to play hockey during college, but his health took a turn for the worse in his early 20s. He took solace in coaching high school hockey at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York, where he attended high school, and made sure he set goals for himself.

“I wanted to increase participation on the team. I wanted to keep players through all four years of high school. . . . So I developed these metrics for myself, and I used every ounce of health left that I had in making it vision happen. … And I think that’s how I managed my CF for a long time.”

As with every phase of Gunnar’s life, hockey played an early role in his relationship with his wife, Darcy.

“Gunnar and I met in 2015 and our first date was a Ranger game,” Darcy told ESPN. “And I grew up in New York and I played hockey as a kid and was a Ranger fan, so of course I said yes.” Gunnar even proposed to Darcy while he was skating.

After a particularly nasty few years of battling CF, in 2018 Gunnar entered a clinical trial of a drug called Trikafta, which had received support from the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Gunnar noticed a change in his breathing and respiratory system overnight, but didn’t realize the full effect until he played a recreational hockey game with his father. In his first shift back on the ice, Gunnar skated for almost two minutes with ease.

“Everyone was like, what the hell is going on with Gunnar?” he said. “I didn’t cough once the whole game. I didn’t spit anything out. I just kept going on the ice for these marathon shifts over and over and over again. Someone who finally built up the courage to ask . . . ‘what what’s happening to you?'”

Gunnar said that after the match, he and his father shared a moment, knowing that Trikafta really did work and that Gunnar’s life had changed forever. In 2019, Trikafta was approved by the FDA and has been effective for about 90% of CF patients. The drug has also increased patients’ life expectancy into the mid-70s.

Trikafta has opened up a world of possibilities for Gunnar, who described a conversation he shared with his wife while stuck in traffic on a road trip.

“It was almost like, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ question. And it brought back so many different memories from, you know, being a high school football player and then being a high school ice hockey player and thinking that maybe being a high school ice hockey coach is my career. .Suddenly, my mind became a blank slate and it dawned on me that I could do whatever I wanted.”

Now Darcy says Gunnar is passing his love of hockey on to his children, Kaspar and Mieke, without the encroachment of cystic fibrosis. “There are CF parents who are older than us who have kids who have had to witness a little more of the fight. But we’re just lucky that for now our kids don’t have to see that, that piece CF , and Daddy is just Daddy, who wants to play hockey in the driveway for hours and play the monkey game and throw them over his shoulder and stuff…”

Something as simple as playing hockey in the driveway, or as complicated as having a family, once seemed impossible to Gunnar. But now he and his father Boomer can share the joys – and pains – of parenthood and grandparenthood.

“It’s been great for me, but I think it’s been even more special to see how my dad looks at my son when we play. I think for him, that’s my opinion… he must feel.. .there’s a little boy in his life now who has a body that works and gets to use it the way he wants without anything holding him back, and it’s like you can see the twinkle in his eye in some ways.

Gunnar still plays recreational hockey, coaches a high school team, roots for the Rangers and kills himself with the passion and resilience that has always carried him. What’s next? To train his children one day.

“Gunnar is always the dad who’s down to do everything and he can’t wait to train,” says Darcy. “I don’t know if anyone is more excited for a hockey practice at 5 a.m. on a Saturday than Gunnar.”