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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 23 | Thursday, May 9, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff B en Fanelli awoke in a hospital bed with absolutely no idea how he got there. The last thing he remembered was fooling around on the bus with teammates on the way home from a game in Brampton. Now, he had worried parents by his bedside. Fanelli listened as they described what had happened two nights earlier. Fanelli, playing in just his seventh Ontario Hockey League game for the Kitchener Rangers in October 2009, had gone behind the net to retrieve a puck when Erie's Michael Liambas charged toward him. As Liambas hit Fanelli, the rookie defenceman's helmet flew off and his head was driven into a metal stanchion -- the partitions that hold the glass in place. Fanelli fell to the ice and lay unconscious, suffering from a fractured skull and broken orbital bones. Now, as Fanelli laid in a bed of the intensive care unit at Hamilton General Hospital, the doctor and his parents tried to brace him for a life without the game he loved so much. He heard the doctor saying words that had to be terrifying to a 16-year-old who was just beginning to live the life every hockey player his age dreams of. "Your life is going to be a little different than it was," he was told. Fanelli was just happy to be alive. Injury put life in perspective Today, with two seasons with the Rangers under his belt, Fanelli has a better understanding of how fortunate he is. Not that he's been able to return to the OHL, but that he was able to play hockey at all, even prior to his injury. "Meeting kids that have not been given the same opportunities as myself. You tell the stories to the guys and you realize not everyone gets the opportunity that we do, and how lucky we are," he said. "We lose a game and everyone is pretty down. But some of the people I've met, if they lost a game, they'd be lucky if that was their biggest problem." The people he speaks of are those he has met through Head Strong: Fanelli 4 Brain Injury Awareness, the program he set up to raise money to help people suffering from head injuries. In the two years since its launch, the program has raised more than $18,000 for the Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC). Fanelli's work on the project earned him the OHL's Dan Snyder Humanitarian of the Year Award, though Fanelli is quick to point out that the Rangers have been instrumental in administering the program. "Certainly Ben is a remarkable story of recovery," said Harry Zarins, the executive director of the BIAC. "Every brain injury is different and how it will work after the in- Head strong Horrific hockey injury did not keep Ben Fanelli from enjoying both hockey and life ationally, but at the same high level he had before his injury. His cousin, James Butler, spent much of the week after the injury at Fanelli's bed side. As they talked and exchanged barbs, Fanelli's mind was put at ease. "I realized I was still me," he said. "I hadn't changed. My personality, the sarcasm, the person I am came through." After returning home from hospital, Fanelli read Lance Armstrong's book, It's Not About the Bike, that detailed his comeback from testicular cancer. Despite the recent revelations about Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing drugs, Fanelli still considers Armstrong an inspiration who helped him believe that he too could make a comeback and motivated him to keep working hard to make it happen. And the odds of it happening did seem long. Fanelli was told that due to the severity of the injury, he may need an educational assistant and that it might be a year, maybe two, before he returned to school. Instead, he returned after two months and completed two of the three courses he had started in September. Fanelli had similar plans in regards to hockey. "After a couple of months, my own mindset was that I would play again," he said, "but I had to win over doctors and my family." While his dad Frank understood his desire to return, his mom, Sue, was a little tougher to convince. "I'm her kid, she wants me to be safe," Fanelli said. "She's been unbelievable. She hated hockey before I got hurt, but she unsee Missing on p.24 Ben Fanelli, who suffered a fractured skull and broken orbital bones in a 2009 Ontario Hockey League game, returned to the league two seasons later. The 20-year-old also founded a program titled Head Strong: Fanelli 4 Brain Injury Awareness, which has raised more than $18,000 for the Brain Injury Association of Canada. Fanelli was recently recognized for that work with the OHL's Dan Snyder Humanitarian of the Year Award. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog jury varies. Ben is helping reduce the stigma and raising awareness around prevention." And the money Fanelli has raised helps those who need on-going assistance after their injury. "It can be a life-long challenge," Zarins said. "You need support from a team of people -- family, friends, therapists -- surrounding the person to help them recover." As for raising awareness around head injuries, even Fanelli has been surprised by the reach of the program. He recently received a picture of Drew Doughty, Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams and Kyle Clifford of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings wearing Head Strong T-shirts. Dur- ing the season, Fanelli billets with the same family Richards did during his days with the Rangers. "You hear from guys who go away to pro camps in the NHL or AHL and someone will be wearing a shirt and other guys will say they've heard about that. It's nice to hear that word is getting around," he said. "You realize how small the hockey world is. Maybe not as much on the ice, but off it, they support one another. Guys move on and it seems everyone knows everyone." Inspired by Lance Armstrong It did not take Fanelli long to decide that he would play hockey again. Not just recre-