Remembering a person I wish I could have known
I didn’t know Cole Hamblin. I’ll be honest: I had no idea who he was until Nov. 5, the day Hamblin succumbed to a rare cancer called mucoepidermoid carcinoma.
Cancer wins on a daily basis – a sad reality of this beautiful world. However, it wasn’t the cancer that hit me the hardest when I logged on to my social media outlets to find a 21-year-old Guelph Gryphon had passed away.
It was the 21-years-old part.
Born in 1993, I, too, am 21-years-old. It’s undoubtedly an age where you still feel the invincibility that carries over from your teenaged self, paired with the bright-eyed desire to accomplish just about anything as the rest of your 20s wait ahead for you.
Standing at 6’4”, 230 lbs, a former player of the Western Hockey League, Hamblin was coined by teammates as a gentle giant.
Not even two months after being diagnosed, this gentle giant lost a battle that he never really got the chance to fight.
Undoubtedly a quick reminder that invincibility is merely a self-proclaimed label, Hamblin went from teaching local kids at a summer hockey camp to fighting for his life in a very limited amount of time.
Remembering the person that people were so fond of, though, will help Hamblin’s fight live on. Cancer may have robbed parents of a child, friends of a companion, and teammates of a brother, but it cannot rob them of Hamblin’s memory.
Hamblin may not have been given the chance or the time to fight the battle; however, thinking about the time he brought a goldfish home to his roommates for a surprise house pet – as teammate Andrew D’Agostini recounted – is a memory that will triumph over cancer every time.
I may not have known Cole Hamblin, and cancer is to blame for my never having the chance to cross paths with the “big guy with the big smile.” I am grateful, though, for the everlasting, invincible memory created and shared by those who did know him, continuing to outlast the tragedy cancer has caused.
At 21-years-old, Hamblin was looking forward to playing for the Guelph Gryphons male hockey team this season, all while starting his degree in business. Afterwards, Gryphons head coach Shawn Camp said Hamblin saw himself playing professional hockey somewhere.
At 21-years-old, Hamblin was just like the rest of us; just like me. We’re invincible, set to chase down whatever dream that we see at the end of the path.
Invincible – they’ll learn one day; you can usually hear our parents counter back.
But maybe us 20-somethings aren’t so wrong after all. We are invincible, all of us, so long as we collectively ensure everyone who has ever had an effect on us is everlasting in their memory.
Invincible.
Cole Hamblin, you are invincible.