By WEB STAFF
sportsnet.ca
Mike Murphy, the NHL’s vice-president of operations and a former coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, revealed Friday he is battling cancer. Murphy, 59, told Hockeycentral@Noon on the Fan 590 in Toronto that he was diagnosed six weeks ago with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but that he is feeling good and is hopeful of the treatment.
“It was scary at first, but all the attention I’ve got from all the great doctors … Has been tremendous,” Murphy told hosts Nick Kypreos and Daren Millard.
Murphy said he is undergoing 16 weeks of chemotherapy and then will do four weeks of radiation treatment.”If I’m blessed, I will be cancer-free come playoff time,” he said.
Hodgkin lymphoma, which has a 90% cure rate, is a cancer of the blood, and is considered less dangerous than non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which former Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu battled in 2001.
Former Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux also had Hodgkin lymphoma during his playing career and returned to the game weeks after undergoing treatment.
Murphy has been with the NHL’s head office for 10 years. He coached the Maple Leafs in 1996-98 and a decade earlier was head coach of the Los Angeles Kings.
