Sitting the stands night after night, cheering on her son Jacob, Jennifer Timmerman was just like any other hockey mom.
“He had a cough most of hockey season, but it was a bad flu season last year so I just figured it was that most of the time,” said Jennifer.
It wasn’t the flu. It was every parent’s worst nightmare. It was cancer. It was April 11, 2015 when Jacob Timmerman was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
“There’s nothing that can prepare you for something like that. It’s terrible because it should have been me not my kid,” said Jennifer.
“I said ‘Mom, you know, that’s what I think. I think of death. But that’s not what this is. I’m going to be alright,’” said Jacob.
What made Timmerman so confident he would win the battle? He simply had to get back on the ice.
When Jacob got the information on what his treatment was going to be like and how long it would take he got angry and burst into tears. When his mom asked what was wrong, Jacob said angrily “I’m going to miss a whole season of hockey’.
“I go really? You have cancer. And you’re worried about hockey right now? From the beginning that was what drove him forward,” explained Jennifer.
Within 24 hours of his diagnosis, Jacob’s coach Mike Quint was by his side in the hospital.
“We told him that he didn’t have to worry about anything, as a family we were there for him,” said Quint.
Timmerman’s hockey family gave his bedroom a man cave makeover, and raised money through various fundraisers including a golf outing and a spaghetti dinner at the school.
“Parents start to think well that could have been my kid, you know. What can we do to help him? How can we support him and support his family?” said Jacob.
“I don’t like to need things from people. And believe me, I needed people. And it’s kind of hard to admit,” said Hooper.
When Timmerman was in treatment, the team took a picture with his No. 35 jersey at every game. When he returned — cancer free — Quint says it was like he had never left.
“We kept him in our hearts, and in our minds and made sure he was a part of everything we had,” said Quint.
“It was almost like he had to do this, he had to get better for them. Because he was going to let all these people down if he didn’t,” said Jennifer.
Knowing his hockey home was waiting for him…is what got Jacob through the long journey.
