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- (Research):Wendy Sittler, 53, kept her spirits high
Six weeks ago, barely able to control her own pain from advanced colon cancer, Wendy Sittler went out to help raise funds for research into the disease that she knew would one day claim her life.
There was a cancer walk and she said she was going - no matter what,'' recalled Peggy Neale, a friend who lives just around the corner from the Sittler home in Amherst, N.Y., and who helped Mrs. Sittler through her final days.
She told me several times that she wouldn't make it, but she did, and as always, she had a smile on her face,'' Neale recalled yesterday.
That's who she was - a woman of immense courage and character and who, no matter what, managed to smile at the world.''
Mrs. Sittler, 53, wife of hockey Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler, died at her home Saturday after a lengthy battle with colon cancer, her husband at her side.
As well as her husband, now a community relations officer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mrs. Sittler also leaves a son, Ryan, daughters Meaghan and Ashley, and a sister, Diane Sauchuk.
She was a very giving person, giving of herself to our children, to me, and to others through her friends and charity work,'' Sittler said yesterday.
She had great understanding and compassion to help others, to listen to others.''
Sittler, who met his wife while both were students at H. B. Beal Secondary School in London, Ont., said the woman he married in 1971 never lost sight of the important things in life.
Most people see only the glamourous life of a hockey player, but we're real people like everybody else, with emotions and everyday life and family and stresses,'' Sittler said.
Wendy was the foundation that our home and family was built on,'' he added.
She dedicated her life to that. I really feel fortunate, having had the success in my career, in hockey. I was very focused, but I knew, as focused as I was, that she had things well under control at home.
I was very fortunate to have that stability behind me.''
Sittler said everyone who met his wife was taken by her smile and engaging personality.
She had a beautiful smile - people remember that most about her,'' he said.
The special gift that she had was that you could meet her, know her for a very short period of time, and you'd walk away feeling you've known her forever.''
Neale, wife of Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Harry Neale, met Mrs. Sittler 14 years ago when her family moved into the same Amherst neighbourhood where the Sittlers had settled several years earlier.
We just got to be good friends, not the everyday, hang out and be pals kind, but ever since her cancer surgery three years ago we've been very close.''
Even in the darkest moments, she said, Mrs. Sittler would remain optimistic.
She was even trying to smile through all the pain three weeks ago when she went into hospital,'' Neale recalled.
She was always so positive, so certain that every new chemotherapy treatment was going to work.''
But there were moments.
Wendy just had the most positive attitude. We didn't even talk about dying,'' Neale recalled.
Maybe, a couple of weeks before she died, she said
This is so unfair. Why can't I have a miracle like so many other people?' ''
Neale, who hosted a dinner party at her house for the Sittlers in June, said she invited 22 couples and decorated the place with images of chickens, Mrs. Sittler's favourite bird.
We had a harpist, a magician, and it was catered,'' she recalled.
It was just the most perfect evening you could ever imagine, all full of love. Darryl gave a speech and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Everybody loved her.''
Born in London, Ont., Mrs. Sittler attended local schools and, after her marriage, turned her attention to family and community work, where she was active in numerous charities, including the Leafs' Have a Heart Foundation.
After her diagnosis of cancer in 1998, Mrs. Sittler became active in the Colorectal Cancer Screening Initiative Foundation and the Body 'n Soul Run/Walk for Colon Cancer Research.
Visitors may call at the Amherst Chapel of the Amigone Funeral Home, 5200 Sheridan Dr., Amherst, N.Y., today from 7-9 p.m. and from 2-4 p.m. and 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. tomorrow.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church, 8180 Greiner Rd., Amherst.
Donations may be made in Mrs. Sittler's name to the Go Kids Go! The Leaf Fund, Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club, 40 Bay St., Suite 400, Toronto, Ont., M5J 2X2.
This article was originally published in The Toronto Star on Monday, Oct. 8, 2001
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