While preparing for one-day surgery and expecting to return to hockey two weeks later, Mathieu Dorais received quite a shock when a biopsy revealed that a malignant tumor had developed in his little toe right.
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“I lived for hockey and that’s where I found my whole circle of friends,” he says. It was really difficult to learn that I wouldn’t be able to play hockey again for the rest of my life. Hockey was the first thing I thought of when I was told I had to be an amputee. With a high prosthesis like I wear, it was impossible to put on skates.
PHOTO courtesy Louis Charland / Rouge et Or
The goalie had been playing hockey since he was a child and our national sport took up all the space. He played a season in midget AAA with the Chevaliers (the Commandeurs at the time) of Lévis during the 2016-2017 campaign where he notably saw action during the evening where the sweater of the former Montreal Canadiens forward David Desharnais has been removed. By the time the terrible news broke in 2020 during the pandemic, he was training with Jakob Pelletier, Alex Barré-Boulet and Maxence Guénette, among others, who were keeping in shape ahead of their professional camp.
A routine operation at the start
A recurring pain tormented him before he decided to consult a doctor who told him that he was suffering from tendinitis. Because the pain persisted, the industrial relations student consulted another doctor who detected a tumor he believed to be benign in his right little toe.
“An operation was going to be necessary, but the doctor told me that this type of tumor is benign 99% of the time, that it was a one-day procedure and that I would be back on the ice two weeks later, he emphasizes. Before the operation, I had a biopsy which revealed that the tumor was malignant. I was told the cells were crazy and cancerous. Ewing’s sarcoma is very rare.
“Without amputation, I took the risk that the metastases would spread elsewhere in my body,” continues the industrial relations student. It was a big decision, but we were conservative in not taking the chance that the cancer wouldn’t spread. There was no compromise to be made and I had my amputation on December 20, 2022.”
A rarely performed amputation
The Chopard amputation is not performed often and requires very specialized skill from the surgeon. Transtibial amputation is the most common in these circumstances and facilitates the fitting.
“The Chopard amputation is a less intrusive operation than the transtibial amputation because I kept my heel, but it was not certain that I would be able to continue playing sports due to the equipment that is different, he explains. I wasn’t ready to give up on sport. The surgeon did a very good job and everything is going well.”
Dorais was amputated at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. “The Chopard amputation is very, very difficult and only Doctor Norbert Dion is able to carry it out. Because I was wearing a cast, I didn’t see my foot for a few weeks. It was quite a shock the first time I saw it. I was then able to realize the extent of the amputation.”