The family of New York Rangers legend Ron Duguay is opening up about his cancer battle, explaining how — along with the help of his girlfriend Sarah Palin — they’ve faced the tragedy together.
“He’s been pretty close to death a few times,” Duguay’s daughter Shay Thomas tells Page Six.
The family launched a GoFundMe this week to help with rising medical costs for the Canadian hockey pro, who played six seasons in New York in the 1970s and 1980s and later became an analyst for MSG Network.
Shay tells us that her dad had been feeling healthy before his diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer in November 2024.
“He wants to share with people to get your colon checked,” Thomas tells us. “He has always been healthy. This was very shocking for him. But he never got his colon checked.”
According to Thomas, the first signs that something was wrong came while Duguay was in Alaska visiting Palin.
“He was… doing gardening work and his stomach was getting really gassy and he was getting really tired,” Thomas tells us. “He was noticing he had to nap and was getting uncomfortable. He flew back to Florida to see one of his regular doctors and they did blood work and noticed his cell count was off.”
Doctors soon discovered the cancer had already spread.
“It was originally colon cancer and went into his liver and everything,” she explains.
Duguay, 68, told Page Six this week that he has lost part of his appendix and his gallbladder. Since then, he’s endured multiple chemotherapy treatments and had a port installed in his liver.
“He lost his hair and he had skin rashes. Each treatment reacts differently,” Thomas says, laughing that one silver lining is that his hair “came in a great color and pretty thick” after growing back.
Palin, 62, has been by his side throughout — even spending five days in the hospital with him following one surgery.
“Sarah has been very involved and incredibly supportive throughout the whole journey,” Thomas says. “The relationship can be challenging at times because she is in Alaska and he is in Florida. She has been great. [Duguays’s other daughter] Amber and I try and go to every appointment and I handle talking to the doctors. When we have needed her for something, she will take a red-eye that night and be there for him.”
“Sarah’s been a huge source of support not only for my dad, but our entire family and we are incredibly grateful for everything,” she adds.
Duguay recently underwent radiation, but his cancer markers have spiked again. The family, however, received a hopeful update this week: he has been accepted into a new medical trial designed to help T cells better fight cancer in the body.
“He just got approved two days ago,” Thomas says. “We are really grateful.”
Still, the emotional toll has been immense.
“There were times where he is thinking he is at the end of the road and then it shows up again,” she says. “He keeps his faith, we all do. It’s incredibly challenging. My sister and I stay strong in front of him. He has always been strong, an athlete, involved in fitness, so this was very shocking to him — to not be in the shape he normally is in. We try to stay positive and hopeful and will do everything possible that is available to help with all of this.”
The GoFundMe has already raised more than $50,000 to help offset travel expenses, treatments, holistic care and the possibility of seeking treatment abroad.
“With everything, it’s cost him a lot and he hasn’t been able to work,” Thomas says. “My sister and I have been trying to help him, but everything is so expensive. He was so against doing a GoFundMe for so long because he doesn’t like asking people for help.”
She continues, “We still have a road to go with everything and we are grateful because he was having a hard time paying his bills and getting here for treatment. I decided to make it regardless of how he felt and now he is grateful to be relieved of the stress.”
Duguay told us earlier this week, “I need to get better so I can help others.”
He previously co-hosted the New York Post Sports podcast “Up in the Blue Seats.”
In addition to the Rangers, he played for the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings.
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