How a soft-spoken NHL star uses his platform to raise awareness for Parkinson’s

Kyle Connor has had a transformative year. His daughter, Willa Jo, was born in March. He signed an eight-year, $96 million contract extension in October and then scored a hat trick in his first game of the season.

But his greatest impact may be off the ice, as he tries to honor one of his late father’s biggest dreams.

In 2017, father and son were talking on the phone — just like they’d done before every game Connor had played in his hockey career to that point. This time, Connor was in his Winnipeg garage, his dad, Joe, back home in Michigan. Father was telling his son about the opportunity they had to do something good.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome to give back? To help people out?” Connor’s dad said.

Connor’s dad had been the emotional center of his family — someone whose sense of humor had helped Kyle, his mom Kathy and three siblings stay lighthearted during their toughest battles. Now Joe Connor Jr., who had been fighting Parkinson’s disease for what Kyle remembers as five or six years, wanted Kyle to help other families if he could.

“My dad realized the platform I had in Winnipeg as a professional hockey player — probably more than I did,” Connor told The Athletic. “But he was never able to see that come to fruition.”

The Connor family had discussed the concept of giving back before. They wanted to do something to help other families battling Parkinson’s disease, which is partly hereditary. Kyle Connor was a boy when his grandpa, Joe Sr., died. He remembers not fully understanding his grandpa’s fatigue, tremors or mood swings. Now, at 20, he had a better understanding of what his father had gone through.

When his dad talked about giving back, he felt a pull to do something to help. He just didn’t know what to do — or how to do it. Then Joe Connor Jr. died on Aug. 27, 2017, shortly before Kyle traveled to Winnipeg for training camp.

His NHL dream came true as he processed his dad’s death. Longtime Jets fans will remember 2017-18 as the year Connor was sent to the AHL to start the season, then recalled following an injury to Mathieu Perreault. Connor scored 31 goals in 76 NHL games by the end of the season, making it to the top line via captain Blake Wheeler’s famous insistence: “Give me the kid.” The highlight-reel goals and headlines piled up.

Behind the scenes, Connor was taking steps to make his dad’s dream come true, too — steps which continue to make a big impact in Winnipeg today.

It started with a call for help.

Mark Chipman is the executive chairman of True North Sports + Entertainment and the Winnipeg Jets hockey team. He has established what he calls a “standing offer” to his players.

“If there’s something that they want to get involved with that we can help support, let us know.”

When Connor’s agent called Chipman looking for ways the Connor family could make an impact around Parkinson’s disease in Winnipeg, Chipman didn’t immediately know what to do.

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder that impacts the nervous system. Symptoms include tremors, stiffness, slowing of motion, loss of vocal power and trouble with balance, and they worsen over time. It is the fastest-growing neurological disease in the world, with a particularly high incidence rate in Manitoba and a leading cause of permanent disability. It is not a disorder for which advocacy is highly organized — but that is changing, thanks in part to a Winnipeg organization called U-Turn Parkinson’s.

Chipman says he found out about U-Turn Parkinson’s through Kevin Donnelly and Linzy Jones, two of True North’s vice presidents, who were each independently connected to the organization. They put Connor in touch with U-Turn Parkinson’s founder, Tim Hague, as well as the Movement Disorder Clinic at Deer Lodge Centre, to see if a partnership could be formed.

The relationship between U-Turn Parkinson’s, Connor, and the Jets has been a game-changer, Hague said.

“It’s not some (low-level) team somewhere. It’s not a player that’s struggling at the bottom of the ranks,” he said. “It’s Kyle Connor and it’s the Winnipeg Jets. It’s put us on the map.”

That’s a particularly funny turn of phrase, coming from Hague. He put himself on the map as a Parkinson’s advocate, first by traveling all over Canada and then the world.

Hague was a registered nurse in Winnipeg, training for his first sprint distance triathlon in 2011, when he was diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson’s disease. He’s perhaps best known for winning “The Amazing Race Canada” reality TV show with his son, Tim Jr.

When they won the show, Hague and his son were awarded a free, first-class plane trip around the world. They visited places such as France, Croatia, Vietnam and the United States, where Hague realized that Canada lagged behind other countries in fighting Parkinson’s disease.

“As I was traveling, everybody I talked to would say that exercise is the best thing that you could be doing (to fight symptoms of Parkinson’s disease), … yet there was nobody here doing anything for exercise,” Hague said. “So, as any good nurse would do, I took it on myself to do something.”

“He was always there for it.”

Connor remembers his dad as a devoted father and a high-level athlete.

They bonded on the outdoor rink that Joe built in the Conners’ backyard in Michigan, shooting pucks throughout the winter. They bonded playing baseball and football, which Connor played competitively until hockey took over in high school.

Joe Connor worked as an automotive engineer from nine to five and then never missed an evening game. He coached several of Connor’s hockey teams, too, giving father and son a ton of quality time together.

As Connor’s NHL dream grew closer, hockey took some of that time away — just as Parkinson’s took a bigger hold of his dad’s life. Connor remembers feelings of guilt, knowing that his mom and his siblings were dealing with his dad’s challenges first-hand. Connor had played hockey close to home when he set scoring records for the University of Michigan, but he turned pro in Winnipeg in what became the final year of his dad’s life.

“I wished I could be there more, in some ways,” Connor said. “I’m grateful for everything that (hockey) has given me, but the biggest thing is how it took away from me being able to see him. Having tough calls with family members about how he was doing … not being there was tough.”

In some ways, Connor’s experience was the opposite of watching a child grow up from afar. If he’d been a faraway uncle, he’d have been able to go home for the holidays to be amazed by how much his niece or nephew had grown in their time apart. As a faraway son, Connor’s visits home revealed how much his dad had gotten worse. Joe’s tremors progressed. He had a tough time walking. He’d frequently fall asleep, as Kyle’s grandpa had done.

“He was huge into sports, very healthy. But Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that impacts people’s mobility. It slowly deteriorates everything in their body, so it was tough to see my dad go down that road,” Connor said. “Being the father that he was and the person that he was and then slowly … ”

At this, Connor takes a moment to compose himself.

But the symptoms his dad experienced are the exact kinds of symptoms U-Turn Parkinson’s is trying to slow down.

It may seem strange that Connor’s most notable work with U-Turn Parkinson’s is the Team 81 bike ride, but there is an important connection between cycling and the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Hague says the connection goes back to research by an American doctor named Jay Alberts.

“He’s done tons of work around cycling,” Hague said. “He was on a cross-country cycle trip with a lady who has Parkinson’s — he does not. They were going at a faster clip than she was used to cycling at. When they got off the bike, they noticed that her symptoms had decreased.”

Subsequent studies confirmed what Alberts had observed: Exercise can reduce the intensity of Parkinson’s symptoms. Hague, himself a former athlete, has noticed the same effects in his own body and the results aren’t limited to cycling.

“You don’t shake as much. You’re less stiff. You think more clearly,” Hague said. “It takes your overall symptoms and just smushes them down for a while. If I don’t exercise, I notice that I don’t move as well, I don’t think as well … It’s much more difficult to do everyday things in life.”

Hague has had to retire from nursing. He can’t walk a hospital floor for eight hours at a time anymore, so U-Turn Parkinson’s has become the No. 1 focus in his life. The “U-Turn” name comes from a maneuver he and his son used as part of their “Amazing Race” victory — a game mechanic they used to slow down and then eliminate one of their competitors. He likes the name because exercise can slow Parkinson’s down, too, and even though there is not presently a cure, the long-term goal is to be able to eliminate it from people’s lives.

Hague’s daughter, Jordana, is U-Turn Parkinson’s program manager. Her job is to coordinate fitness programs, make them diverse and accessible and to make sure people understand that they don’t need to be athletes for exercise to make an impact on their lives.

“It’s hard when someone isn’t naturally active or hasn’t been active in years and years to come and see what U-Turn Parkinson’s is all about. Maybe it’s like, ‘I haven’t exercised ever and now I’m 65 or 75 and I’m supposed to exercise?’ It can feel overwhelming,” she said. “That’s exactly why we exist. We are accessible … we want everyone to feel comfortable coming in joining us. There’s a place for them here where they can get a workout that’s tailored to them, to where they are right now in life.”

When Connor and his wife, Ally, welcomed their daughter into the world, Connor reflected on the values he wanted to uphold as a father.

He’s been thinking about what his six-month-old daughter will think of him when she grows up.

“That’s part of fatherhood, I think — how you carve your path and how your kid views you and your legacy, it’s constantly going through your head. You can’t let it dictate too much of your life, but it’s always there.”

Standing in the Jets dressing room at Canada Life Centre, reflecting on the impact his dad had on him — and the impact he wants to make on his daughter — Connor brings up the importance of quality time. He knows his dad would be proud of him — he was always good at making sure Connor knew that — and now he wants to make his daughter proud too.

Which of his dad’s qualities does he want to pass on the most?

“I would say that his dedication to being a family man, just being there, showing up, bringing people together, that’s something he was great at.”

Connor will be the Jets’ ambassador at their third Parkinson’s Awareness night on April 11. He’s also given his name to the Team 81 Ride for Parkinson’s, which takes place each summer. The combined impact of those two events has been over $250,000 in their first two years.

On Friday at Southdale Community Centre, Connor will see some of the impact from fundraising first-hand. The center recently completed a new addition, through which U-Turn Parkinson’s is offering free-of-charge exercise classes from Monday to Friday. U-Turn Parkinson’s is also able to use Southdale’s accessible parking, office space, meeting rooms and their large, state-of-the-art gym space. It will be open to the public for a grand opening on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

When Hague founded U-Turn Parkinson’s nine years ago, there were only a handful of fitness classes. Now they do over 20 classes a week and help hundreds of people. His long-term goal is for U-Turn Parkinson’s to have a facility of its own.

He thinks Connor’s advocacy and the Jets’ fundraising efforts can help him get there.

Hague also says he’s seen Connor embodying exactly those values that would have made his father proud. Connor says there’s a reason for that.

Whenever he talks to Tim or goes to one of these events, meeting other people affected by Parkinson’s, it reminds him of his dad.

“It puts me in touch with him. It’s almost an avenue to keep him alive.”

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