Jones grateful for support after ALS diagnosis

Being around the rink has been a major part of his life and it’s not going to change.

For Bob Jones, getting diagnosed with ALS was the toughest news of his life.

It was about a year ago that the Ottawa Senators assistant coach noticed something wasn’t right.

“I noticed about a year ago that my speech was kind of off,” Jones said. “I quit talking on the phone to a lot of people and I was short with people I know. I didn’t talk in long sentences because I knew it was off. When I got back here in September, the coaches noticed and said ‘Something’s going on. You should get tested.’”

It was Dec. 13 when he found out he has ALS.

Through the Senators, the diagnosis was made public in January and Jones hopes to help raise awareness with the news becoming public.

“I’m trying to create awareness of this horrible disease,” Jones said. “We’ve got to raise money for this until we find a cure.”

Commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.

Jones, who has deep ties to the Sault, being born here and playing with the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds before forging on a coaching career that has taking him through the OHL and the pros, said the diagnosis was a shock.

“My wife was sitting there (with me) and we couldn’t believe it,” Jones said. “It’s a horrible disease and they don’t have a cure for it. I’m on meds that slow it down, but there’s not a cure.”

Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith, who has a long history with Jones having coached with the latter in junior before the two renewed forces on the staff of the Senators in the summer of 2019, praised Jones and called the diagnosis “horrible news.”

“It’s tough. I’ve coached with him for years. I’ve known him for a long time,” Smith said when the Senators announced the diagnosis. “Players love him.”

“He’s just a guy who’s cares about players for decades,” Smith added. “Horrible news. He wants to be around for his mental health, joking with the guys and keeping his spirits up rather than just go home and deal with it there. He has the freedom to come and go, but at this point he’s at the rink and he’s dealing with it the best he can.”

Jones said being around the rink is something he wants to continue.

“It’s important to me,” Jones said of continuing to be around the team since the diagnosis and announcement. “I love being a coach. I want to go to work every day and work with the other coaches to map out a gameplan to beat the opposition, do video, practice. It’s all important to me.”

Jones also talked about the support he’s received from the rest of the Senators coaching staff.

“We’re a coaching staff. We work together every day,” Jones said. “You practice every day. You watch video every day. You’re on the ice every day. IF you’re not playing and you work together. Our staff is a great support for me.”

Jones added that the Senators players have also been a great support for him as well.

“I love going to work and being a coach,” Jones said.

When the diagnosis was made public by the Senators, forward Brady Tkachuk said Jones wanting to be with the team after the diagnosis says a lot about him.

“It makes us want to just leave it all out there,” Tkachuk said. “We think that a loss or a bad game is the end of the world, but there are people in live going through way harder things. The fact that he wants to be here every step of the way and see all of us as a group and an organization accomplish our dreams, I think that says a lot about the person he is and how much he cares about this team and the players in the locker room. It just makes us want to find that extra level to get the job done in honour of him.”

In addition to the support he’s received from the Senators, Jones said he has heard from many former teammates around the game as well.

“It’s overwhelming,” Jones said of the supports he’s received from former teammates and colleagues around hockey. “Teammates that I played with thirty years ago, teammates that I’ve coached that are now in the National Hockey League. I’ve got texts from firefighters, (people from) all walks of life. It’s tremendous amount of support.”

Calgary Flames assistant general manager Chris Snow has been fighting ALS for three years. Jones said he’s spoken with Snow and was referred to a doctor in Toronto by him.

“It’s a short number of people that have ALS, so you hear about a guy in Calgary that’s in the NHL, so I contacted him,” Jones said. “He got me to see a Dr. Zinman in Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto who I’m seeing now. He passed me along his Doctor and I’m very grateful for that.”