2023-11-19 16:00:00
Mario Hudon is in his last moments. The illness is taking over faster than expected, her daughter said on Sunday morning, thus canceling his goodbye party that he planned to hold on Saturday, December 2.
There was just super Mario to organize a party for his departure. He had planned to leave on December 7 with medical assistance in dying.
However, respiratory problems landed him in hospital this week and he is unlikely to be released. Six days ago, he was still doing more interviews to say hello to everyone.
I titled it “my Mario”. Actually, I’m not that close to the ex-radio host. But it doesn’t matter, it was always like that when I saw him: Hello my Mario! If you are involved in any way in local sport in Quebec, you know it and you have seen it dozens of times.
Because Mario is everyone’s boyfriend. He’s everyone’s Mario. It would really take someone with bad faith in the world to say that they don’t get along well with Mario.
It was comical and beautiful besides. His daughter, Jessica, who was trying to organize Mario’s going away party, didn’t seem to know what to do anymore. She had reserved a room for 150 people and within a few hours, 250 guests had indicated their desire to attend.
Life lesson
When I asked him if he realized how much everyone loved him, and to what extent he had played an awareness-raising role in the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Mario remained modest: “I have good friends and a big mouth.”
Mario wanted to wait until his grandson Nathan’s 15th birthday party next Thursday before leaving. His brother, Isaac, has just been named captain of his Atom team. Enough to make Grandpa very proud who gave a whole life lesson by never complaining about the nasty ALS that he has been fighting since December 7, 2020.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Even this week, he was still joking about his illness, through a few tears, to calmly announce the date of his departure.
The last time I saw Mario healthy was shortly before his diagnosis. He worked at JD Mitsubishi to finish his career with simpler hours. I was stopping by to look at a car. How did it turn out, do you think? We went to his office, we started talking about the Nordiques, the crowds in Florida and the Coyotes saga. Mario opened his computer and showed me a big Excel table in which he compiled lots of attendance statistics to demonstrate the aberration of not having NHL hockey in Quebec. Sorry to Pierre Tremblay, his boss, I don’t know if you knew he did that sometimes during work. We bought the car, so it worked out anyway.
When they leave
Mario, it was also the famous open lines which were very entertaining. These were his spectacular descriptions of senior hockey. It was his omnipresence in local sport. It wasn’t always easy to get a microphone on Quebec radio stations. We talked about him everywhere, but we always ended up finding him again, because he knew how to carve out a place for himself in the hearts of Quebec sports fans.
It’s cliché, but it’s often when they’re gone that we tell people we love them. Hoping you can read all this, we love you my Mario! You told me how happy you were when you passed through The Journal because your parents and your grandsons could be proud of you. I hope they are proud! We will miss your courage, your kindness, your love of Quebec and your constant smile.
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