One Man’s Fight | Pro Hockey News

HUNTSVILLE, AL – When it comes to fighting illness, Cody Weimer is an enforcer.

Weimer is the creator of the SPHL Fan Page, a social media site that hosts discussions about everything around the league. An avid Huntsville Havoc fan, he is loved and respected by fans and players throughout the SPHL and his page is visited by hundreds of enthusiasts every week.

Weimer told Pro Hockey News about his recent frightening and unexpected brush with disaster.

“The weekend of May 18 & 19 I felt sick at work,” Weimer recalls. “I was dry heaving and my urine was very dark. My sister Ruby picked me up and noticed I was yellow so she took my temp.”

Ruby suggested they head right to the local hospital. “When we got to the hospital they didn’t have a clue what was going on,” Weimer said. “They explained that I had a lot of things wrong with me. They told me I had only 4000 blood platelets, which was causing me to start organ failure.”

At that point Cody was transferred to Grandview medical in Birmingham and put in the ICU. They did more lab work, and around 9 am came back with a diagnosis of TTP – a ultra rare blood disease. “They started me on plasma theresis where they take all the bad plasma out and put good in,” Weimer said. “We did this for 5 days, and by the 26th my plasma count was where it was supposed to be. On Saturday we started a chemo to help lock in the treatment and continued to watch my numbers over the next two days.”

On Memorial Day Monday, Cody was discharged for the first time but had to return for chemo and labs. on the following Friday. “Somehow in that short time my platelet numbers dropped to 12500, so I was readmitted,” Cody recalls. “This time we did 7 plasma treatments.” Weimer was released Monday June 10th with a follow-up appointment for more labs and chemo, and on that following Friday his numbers were close to 400000.

“On July 14th I’ll start chemo once a month for about 3 or 4 months, and labs every 2 weeks for almost a year,” said Weimer.

Cody had a number of concerned well-wishers from the 2018 Huntsville Havoc championship team reach out during his time in the hospital, including Tyler Piacentini, Max Milo, and Peter Sikalis, whose OT game-winning goal against Macon sent Huntsville to the finals and on to winning the President’s Cup.

“The hecklers from Macon came to see me,” laughs Weimer. “I also heard from Tommy Tsicos of the QC storm, and plenty of Havoc team staff reached out and messaged me. The Birmingham bulls booster club sent a gift basket, and Peter Sikalis sent an autographed stick.”

Pro Hockey News wants to join the SPHL in telling Cody to stay strong and wishing him all the best from his hockey family.