Young forward will miss training camp due to cancer treatments.

I am certain that Stelio Mattheos would not want anyone feeling sorry for him, but I just can not help it.

On Monday Carolina Hurricanes general manager and team president Don Waddell met with the media to announce that it has been determined that Mattheos will miss the entirety of the 2019 training camp as a result of ongoing cancer treatments. No doubt this has been a devastating blow to a young man that is coming off the most important season of his young career, and one that could seriously jeopardize his future chances of making it onto the Hurricanes National Hockey League roster.

Mattheos, who is only 20 years old at the time of this writing, was diagnosed with testicular cancer back in June. The news was a harsh shock to Mattheos who had just 2 days prior helped the Charlotte Checkers, Carolina's affiliate team in the American Hockey League, capture the 2019 Calder Cup.It is hard to imagine what Mattheos thought process was like during that trying time, and I regret to say that things have only become more difficult for him since the initial diagnosis. According to the Hurricanes official website Mattheos has already lost one testical, it was surgically removed on the advice of doctors, but has also undergone multiple courses of chemotherapy over the past two months as doctors try to get him cancer free.

Unfortunately those treatments will now overlap with the upcoming training camp for the Hurricanes, and obviously treating a potentially fatal disease is going to take priority over absolutely everything else in Mattheos' life at this time. To his credit though Mattheos appears to be soldiering on in spite of his hardships, and the 20 year old even released a terrific statement in which he was sure to thank fans and medical professionals for all the support they have been giving him in recent weeks. 

"I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to offer support and well wishes since the diagnosis," said Mattheos via the Hurricanes website. "I've had amazing support from my friends, family, teammates, coaches and all of the hockey organizations I've been a part of, including the Hurricanes, Checkers and Brandon Wheat Kings.

"I owe a debt of gratitude to my surgeon, Dr. Sabeer Rehsia, and all of the staff at Grace Hospital, as well as Dr. Piotr Czaykowski at Cancer Care Manitoba and all of the nurses on the chemotherapy ward."

We will be hoping that he makes a full recovery and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.