Former Pittsburgh Penguins hockey player, Pascal Dupuis has been battling a decision since suffering multiple hockey-related injuries. In December of 2013, while playing a game against the Ottawa Senators, he tore his ACL, PCL and MCL.

“I basically dislocated my whole knee,” Dupuis told The Players Tribune.

While waiting to have his surgery, he was doing an arm workout and got an intense chest pain. He had some thoughts that maybe he had broken a rib or such, but thought nothing of it.

However, more symptoms came about. Every night, he would cough non-stop and his wife started to become concerned. He visited his chiropractor and that’s when they came across something strange. He had no broken ribs or anything, and his chiropractor called the doctor and went to the emergency room immediately with his wife.

Thinking his kids were all on break and that he didn’t want to make a big deal out of something that could be nothing, he went to the hospital by himself. Walking into the ER, there were many doctors waiting for him. After putting him on an IV, they took him in for a CAT scan, and found a clot in his right lung.

Essentially, they decided that when Pascal had gotten hit during the game in Ottawa, his blood clot had started in his leg (a very common place where many blood clots begin) and traveled up into his lung on his flight back.
The blood clot had been slowly stopping all blood flow to one part of his lung. In other words, a part of his lung was slowly dying.

Being a hockey player, Dupuis had overcome many injuries. Hockey players are taught to be tough and mainly focus on the game. If someone got injured, unless it was serious, they played. In one game, Dupuis had been hit in the face, and the next time he was on the bench he pulled out two loose teeth.

Because hockey is such a rough and exhausting sport, players only go on the ice for about a minute or two before they are back on the bench to rest until they go onto the ice again. They only get so much ice time, and they’ll do anything to get back on and play. In some instances, even if players have a bad enough mouth injury that would need surgery, they’ll go off the ice, get surgery and be back in the same game.

Thinking back to the blood clot, it could have been fatal. Had the clot kept traveling, it could have gone up to his brain or heart and would have been fatal.

After being off the ice for six months while taking blood thinners and resting his knee, he was ready to go back on the ice. He didn’t tell his teammates or the press about the clot; practically only his family knew.

He was back in for the game opener. Then he traveled to Winnipeg for practice, he experienced symptoms that he thought he was a heart attack. He just excused himself to his teammates, calling it a pulled muscle.

Yet again, the hockey player was showing through. Dupuis was paying attention to his matches and the amount of ice time he had.

After the road trip, he was back in Pittsburgh and talked to his doctor. They said either he came in, or he didn’t go on the next road trip.

He went to the doctor and discovered he was suffering a second blood clot, and was put back on blood thinners and was out of the game.

Dupuis seriously thought about it: Quitting hockey or staying in the game? Was it worth it to continue his career and risk his life as a “35 year old”?

After writing at least two articles for The Players Tribune, he was absolutely sure on coming back, which he did. That was until in a game he had to come off the ice.

He was tested again and, after thinking and discussing, Dupuis announced his retirement on Dec. 8. His family was his number one priority, and hockey had become a risk.

Although many of the Penguin fans are sad, on multiple media sites they supported his decision and gave him good wishes.

It was a long and rough decision, after being taken off the ice, being allowed back on and then off, he decided that he was done.