If you ask anyone who knew her, Taura Capuano Auddino was a force of nature.
A dedicated mother of five children -- plus anyone else that came into her home, or Auddino's Italian Bakery in Columbus -- she was equal parts loving parent and no-BS voice of reason.
"She was scary," her son, Michael, said Friday night with a laugh. "Growing up, she was the scariest woman in the room. Everybody knew not to mess with her because she was very strict, but very loving and kind. She always sacrificed everything and did what she could for our family and numerous friends. All my friends, all my siblings' friends, they would call her a second mother because of the way she was. She was always accepting to everybody no matter what the circumstances."
She attacked lung cancer with the same verve you'd expect, then, when she was diagnosed with a stage 4 version of the disease in 2018. After a three-year battle, Taura passed away June 25 at the age of 49.
"It was almost a three-year battle, and I don't think anybody else would have been able to do it," Michael said. "She just fought the entire way. She fought for us kids and just tried to do her best the whole way all the way up until the end. She had all the support in the world with our family, our friends and everybody else."
One of her final memories, though, will last the Auddino family a lifetime. The one daughter of the five Auddino siblings, Carley, was scheduled to be married June 5, but in the weeks leading up to the wedding, it was starting to become clear Taura would be unable to attend. So on May 16, Carley and her fiancé Alex walked down the aisle at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University.
"When she was admitted and she was intubated, the doctors told us to expect the worst," Carley said. "They didn't think they would see her coming out of the ICU, but she did. But they were like, 'If you want to do (the wedding), you better do it and you better do it now.' It was a Thursday and they were like, 'Can you be here Sunday?'
"I knew I wanted to have something that involved her, and the James staff was incredible getting everybody where they needed to be. It was very, very special."
It's been almost five months since Taura passed away, but as Michael said, "she's still very much the center of the family." As such, there was hardly any room in a suite at Nationwide Arena on Friday night as Auddinos of all ages got together for Hockey Fights Cancer Night.
Taura embraced the Blue Jackets over the years, and her lavender No. 22 Hockey Fights Cancer jersey with a nameplate that read "SURVIVOR" was one of her favorite possessions.
"She definitely enjoyed it," said Michael, whose matching lavender jersey has the nameplate "MOM" and the No. 1 on the back. "She always said it was too cold and the cannon was too loud, but she definitely enjoyed coming to the games."
"This was one of her favorite things," Carley added.
So it was with a heavy heart but many fond memories that the Auddinos -- including Taura's husband, Rosario, and the other three kids, Antonio, Dominic and Santino -- gathered at Nationwide Arena. They still wore white Taurastrong bracelets and ribbons, and others who know the Auddinos did the same throughout the seating bowl.
There were a few tears, a lot of smiles and some new memories made.
"This night really means the world to my entire family," Michael said. "In the past years since she has been diagnosed, she would come to a game and partake in all the Hockey Fights Cancer stuff. She was a big believer gets a chance, everybody gets better, and this just means the world to our entire family."
A Smiling Face
If you've attended a Blue Jackets game as a member of the media or watched from a gathering in the Scott's Turf Terrace, you know Kevin Farrell.
The Nationwide Arena usher has a home right outside the elevator at press level, and he's always ready to chat and spread good vibes. That's a fitting role for Farrell because he also spreads his fair share of good vibes when talking with brain tumor patients away from the rink.
Why? Because a few years ago, Farrell was one himself.
A native of Ludlow, Mass., and a U.S. Army veteran -- he'll be the team's Military Honoree on Monday -- Farrell moved to Ohio in 2014, but his life changed early in 2016 one day when he fell down a flight of stairs.
It was a weird thing to happen, of course, and a friend begged him to get checked out. What doctors found surprised them, and that's never a good thing to hear.
"It went from, I knew there was something wrong, but I didn't want to deal with it, to the doctor at the VA saying, 'I don't understand how you are walking around,'" Farrell said. "The head of neurosurgery at Ohio State said, 'I don't believe you are driving. You should not even have keys in your hand.'"
Diagnosed with a brain tumor (an acoustic neuroma, specifically), Farrell quickly found himself in surgery, but it was not an easy road. He had his first surgery April 7, 2016, but his brain swelled and he was losing brain fluid so he had another surgery a week later. More leaks followed, as did meningitis. Farrell was in the hospital for a month and a half, and his situation was such that he was the presenting case for neurosurgery at the next tumor board.
"They were saying this guy should not be alive," Farrell said.
But he was -- and is, and Farrell is lucky. Despite losing hearing and his balance mechanism on the right side of his body, he's largely healthy, so much so that he can still golf and ride a bike. Which is why Farrell spends as much of his time as possible giving back, including volunteer shifts at The James in the brain tumor unit and the creation of an annual golf outing that has raised $75,000 for brain tumor research in the three years since its inception.
"I talk to people who have brain cancer, who are going through it, and just show them that you can do this," Farrell said.
And as you can imagine, combining such passions as hockey, helping others and the cancer survivor community means Hockey Fights Cancer Night is one of Farrell's favorites in his job.
"When they do this, chances are there's gonna be somebody here with a sign that says, 'I beat brain cancer,' and if I'm lucky enough, I'm gonna be able to go down there and meet that person and say, 'Hey, so have I,'" Farrell said.
In Enemy Territory
Hockey Fights Cancer Night always feels like one of the most emotional, community-based evenings of the year for any NHL team that celebrates. Which is why sometimes it can be weird to be the visiting team -- not only can you feel like an uninvited guest, you're also there to sort of spoil the party.
But for William Shannon of Shepherdstown, W.Va., it was a perfect confluence of circumstances. The 16-year-old Caps fan and his family wanted to check out a game in Columbus -- his sister, Emily, isn't too far up the road at Marshall University -- and it just so happened Washington was in town for the Jackets' Hockey Fights Cancer Night.
And Shannon himself is a survivor, having been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was 4 years old, which is why you could see the family decked out in their lavender Caps jerseys for the night. After getting through four years of treatment as a kid, he's not only healthy, he's playing hockey, serving as a defenseman for Hagerstown, Md., U-16 team in the Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League.
Hockey has always been a passion, and it has allowed Shannon to connect with the Caps in more ways than one. When he was 5 years old and in the deepest throes of his battle in 2011, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic partnered with the team to give Shannon a day with the team, where he met such players as Alexander Ovechkin, dressed in full gear in the Caps' locker room, took the ice with the team and then was an honored guest the next night for a game against Buffalo.
A few years later, William was back, playing during an intermission during a Caps game as part of the Mites on Ice program, and the relationship with the Caps and hockey has always been one of the things that kept him and the family going.
"Really, he was the healthiest sick kid we ever knew," said his mom, Sandy Knoerlein. "When you're little, you just go with it and you just want to do what you can do. He didn't miss a whole lot of time on the ice, but he lost a little bit. He's been playing ever since."
Spurred on by William's battle, the Shannons have stayed active in the cancer and hockey communities, including with organizations such as Boxes of Bravery and West Virginia Kids Cancer Crusaders. Sandy goes around the state helping families that have kids in the same situation William once was, "paying it forward," she says, after everything her son went through and the support he received.
Emily, meanwhile, has started her own service project to work with kids battling cancer as well.
"I am graced to have the opportunity to continue to do that and continue carrying on what our family went through and be able to use that experience to help others," Emily said. "I think that is a really amazing thing I am capable of doing, and I"m really blessed to have that opportunity."
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