Heart of a champion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2009 (6077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

"GO,  Riders, Go!”

That’s how Marilyn Alexander answers the phone these days. No "Hello" or "This is the Alexander residence."

Then she demurs, giggling, "I can’t believe I’m cheering for the Roughriders, not the Bombers."

Forgive her. She’s a lifelong Winnipeg resident and Bombers fan, but when you’re the proud mom of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting cornerback, allegiances can be fragile when blood is involved.

But long before the mother of Donovan Alexander turned green, her son turned purple. The former was a joy, the latter was horrifying.

You see, Alexander, now a 24-year-old speed merchant for the Riders, was born with a rare heart condition — two fully working aortas that wrapped themselves around his wind and food pipes.

"Whenever he breathed," Marilyn recalled, speaking of the youngest of her three boys, "he would be gasping, because every time his heart beat, it would be closing his windpipe. He was slowly suffocating."

For months after Donovan was born, doctors misdiagnosed his condition, but by the time he was eight months old, a throat specialist identified the problem. However, the condition was so rare, few doctors in the country were capable of performing the life-saving surgery.

Enter the Variety Children’s Heart Centre, which located a doctor in Toronto. Said Marilyn: "When they took him to surgery in the crib, he was standing up and so excited. He had no idea where he was going. He was jumping up and down and going, ‘Whee, whee!’ But it worked out well."

The surgery was a success, although Alexander’s pipes were still indented at first. In fact, not long after the operation, young Donovan was eating a piece of sausage and began to choke. "He was just purple and he wasn’t breathing at all," Marilyn said.

A panicked mom gave Donovan CPR after frantically yelling for help from neighbours outside, and the offending chunk of meat was dislodged.

These are all stories that Donovan Alexander is told at least once a year for as long as he can remember.

"Everything — the operation and the surgery — is all that my parents tell me," Alexander told the Free Press Wednesday on the phone from Calgary, where the Riders are preparing to meet the Montreal Alouettes in Sunday’s Grey Cup. "If they hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known anything was wrong with me."

It’s understandable, given that Alexander has rarely had to catch his breath ever since. He fell in love with football as a child.

"One day when he was five years old, we asked him to write a letter to Santa," mother Alexander recalled. "He wanted season tickets to the Bombers. Little bugger. We didn’t have much money then."

So what did a cash-strapped Santa do?

"What do you think?" Marilyn replied. "Santa always comes through."

Indeed, Marilyn and Derek Alexander kept their Bombers season tickets for years, making sure to travel to one away game a season as a family road trip. By the time Donovan reached high school, his flat-out speed made him a star for the perennially contending St. Paul’s Crusaders football program.

"He’s probably the best athlete I’ve seen. Absolutely, in terms of our program and the things he could do," said Crusaders head coach Stacy Dainard, who has been coaching at St. Paul’s for some 15 seasons.

In 2002, Alexander was awarded the prestigious Harry Hood Award, which recognizes accomplishments in athletics, academics and community service.

Upon graduating high school, Alexander played five seasons on a scholarship from the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, then was offered a tryout by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks before joining the Alouettes for the 2008 season.

He started a handful of games for the Als last year before being traded to the Roughriders in the off-season, where he’s found a home. He started at corner all season for the Roughriders, a rarity for a non-import in the CFL. Especially for a rookie starter.

Yes, Alexander has come a long way from his life-threatening early days in Winnipeg. But even though he can’t remember the surgery, the family has never forgotten the involvement of Variety’s help, then or now.

"They were so good to us," Marilyn recalled. "They treated us like people. They came and sat with us and explained everything so we could understand. Not knowing is the worst fear."

Meanwhile, the folks at Variety have keenly been following Alexander’s journey from that toddler gleefully jumping up and down on the way to surgery, too.

"Just to see him play now is absolutely outstanding," said Variety Club executive director Wayne Rogers.

For his part, Alexander has already been tapped as a guest speaker at Variety Club fundraisers. He’s even planning a bowling tournament/fundraiser for this February in Winnipeg. They’re going to call it the Heart Bowl.

"We always credit them with saving me," Alexander acknowledged. "I always tell Wayne I feel like I owe my life to Variety. So I’m always there to help them out."

First things first, however. There’s the little matter of a Grey Cup to be played. Needless to say, Marilyn and Derek Alexander will be at McMahon Stadium on Sunday. No doubt their son will be jumping up and down and going, "Whee, whee!" Just like a little kid.

"He’s such a natural athlete," mom concluded. "We always say it’s because he has so much heart."

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

ed tait reports from the grey cup C4