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PAST TOURS - Dubai, U.A.E. 2000
Beijing International Ice Hockey

The Dubai 2000 tournament will always be remembered as when Andrew Hjelmeland, a star from Beijing, came within hours of death. Below is the story written by Steve Conniff, who helped put together the tournament, and helped save Andrew's life. The story shows how all the players in Asia, whose only common link is the little black puck, rallied together, and through luck and circumstance, our friend's life was spared. Steve told it the best...

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April 25th, 2000

Hi Everyone,

I do want to tell you a pretty amazing story. This is why the updates from our tournament were not coming.

Andrew Hjelmeland and I thought up this year’s “Dream Team” concept for the Dubai tournament after the Tournament in Thailand in November. We wanted all of the guys from last year’s Beijing Team to return and we wanted to add a few guys who would compliment the team on and off of the ice this year. This of course included Marc & David. A few of last year’s players were not able to make it and the remainder of us joined up with four guys from the Bahrain team. We became the “Beijing/Bahrain Buds”.

Andrew had been traveling around South America since the Thai tourney and he had promised to be in Dubai and be the team Captain. True to his word he took a break from his trip and came in a week before the tournament to get into hockey shape. Marc came in a few days later. On the Sunday before the tournament we got to play together in a game against the President of Belarus. He was in the UAE and had his gear. The Sheik’s office contacted Chris Reynolds to get two teams together and it was arranged in a few hours.

We played the game, which was won by the President’s team, 15 to 14. The President had the winning goal. Andrew scored four for our team in the losing effort.

There was a league game played immediately after that. Andrew played for the Al Ain Ex-Pat team. He wanted to get as much skating as possible in before the big tournament. Andrew played well in that game also. He complained of a nagging headache that had started the night before, though.

On Tuesday more of the team showed up in Dubai and we went out on the town. Andrew’s headache was worse and he stayed home to rest up as the tournament started the next day.

On Wednesday David arrived and we played 2 games in the afternoon. Andrew’s headache got worse and he went back to rest after the second game. Andrew is 32 years old. Anyone who has met Andrew is usually immediately impressed with his energy and fitness, his intelligence and love of life. We were all starting to get very concerned and made him go to the Clinic at my apt. complex. He was given some pain pills and told to see if they helped. Andrew then became bed-ridden with the pain. It turns out he hadn’t been able to keep any food down for days due to the nausea caused by the pain.

Andrew was unable to play the next day. That night we went to the emergency room at the American hospital and asked them to check him for malaria, meningitis and a brain tumor. We wanted to rule out dangerous illnesses if possible before taking a slow course of treatment. They drew blood and gave him an injection for pain and he went to sleep for a while. He had not been able to sleep because of the pain. We went back home.

On Friday the results for malaria and meningitis came back negative and we were told to keep the appointment that we had made for Saturday for an MRI to scan Andrew’s brain.

Andrew spent another whole day in bed not eating or really sleeping. Our team played in the 2^nd division finals and came from behind to win the trophy. We were all staying in apts. at my complex and were constantly checking on Andrew. He was not well.

On Saturday morning we went to the hospital for the MRI. The MRI showed a large lesion on the left frontal area of his brain. He would require surgery and then have tests run to see if it was malignant or benign cancer, or an abscess. The consulting doctor thought that it was probably a tumor. Andrew and I went home. He was in really bad shape that night but he didn’t want to be in the hospital. Tomi finally got Andrew to agree to go and check in to the hospital. They were able to give him morphine that relieved the pain and they started to treat the swelling in the brain.

On Sunday the Dr. wanted to operate. We were checking to see if Andrew could travel home but the Dr. advised against it. We said that we wanted a second opinion and he gave us all of the test results, x-rays & MRI films. I called Chris Reynolds who got in touch with Ahmed Al Masroui, the Capt. of the UAE National Team and a medical student in Al Ain. We asked him who was the best Neurosurgeon in the country and he referred us to Dr. Arnie Roos, a native of Sweden. It turns out that Arnie plays hockey for the Al Ain ex-pat team and had played with Andrew on the Sunday night. He remembered Andrew well and told us to send everything we had on Andrew to him for his opinion. We sent it by courier immediately.

A few hours later, Dr. Roos called me with his opinion. He was very blunt. He said “ I am very sorry. I have bad news. This is a malignant tumor. Andrew has a very short life span.”

He then advised against Andrew flying home for the surgery as it would be too dangerous for him. He would be willing to do the surgery however, and began the process to reserve a bed in ICU at the Al Tawab Hospital in Al Ain for Andrew.

I had the unpleasant task of informing Andrew’s family as to what the situation was. Andrew had not wanted to worry them without knowing what was wrong. We now knew and his family had to know. I was able to reach his father after a couple of hours. He handled the news pretty well but you could tell that he was devastated. He and Andrew’s mother would be coming as soon as possible.

The response from the hockey crowd, who all knew Andrew, was incredible. People were pulling strings to get his parents’ emergency entry visas, airline tickets, and get Andrew moved to Al Ain and prepare for the surgery. Andrew did not have any health insurance. Plans for a fundraiser were underway. The most important thing was to get the surgery done. Dr. Roos was concerned among other reasons that the cranial pressure Andrew was suffering from would cause him to go blind by damaging the optic nerve.

Andrew had not yet been told what a bleak prognosis that the second opinion of Dr. Roos was. This was going to be done by his parents when they got there.

Upon arrival in Al Ain and consulting with Dr. Roos it was decided to do the surgery ASAP. Andrew was in the best condition he had been in a week as the treatment in the American Hospital had temporarily relieved some of the pressure on his brain. Andrew’s parents were due in the UAE late Tuesday night but the surgery was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. They would not see him prior to the surgery. Andrew was told that he may be on life support for a day or two following the surgery and that there was a chance of some residual neurological damage. Dr. Roos promised Andrew that he would do his very best to make the surgery a success. The next phase would be determined by pathology results on the growth.

Dr. Roos told me that based on his experience that this growth was a malignant tumor and that out of all of the brain surgery he had done countless numbers of, he had only two patients that had lived for ten years after. Everyone was aware of the danger that Andrew was in and we were extremely worried.

The surgery took about 3 hours. Dr. Roos came out and told us that he had successfully removed the growth and that Andrew had been brought around at the end of the surgery and showed no signs of neurological damage. He was not on life support and was doing well. He also told me that he still thought that the growth was a malignant tumor. The surgery was successful but Andrew was not out of the woods yet, by any means.

George Zarifi, one of Andrew’s many friends, was unable to attend the tournament but he was coming to Al Ain from the Philippines where he had been on business meetings. He was met at the Dubai airport by some of the hockey player’s wives and they all waited for Andrew’s parents. George was able to tell them that the surgery was done, the operation a success and Andrew was doing well. They were immediately relieved that this part was over. They had not seen Andrew in 2 years and were brought to Al Ain by Karen Lavallie & Dawn Power. They arrived at about 3:00 am and we were all allowed to see Andrew in ICU at that hour. Andrew was in good spirits and we visited with him for about 20 minutes. Everyone then went off to sleep for a while.

Over the next few days Andrew’s recovery was amazing. He was itching to get out of the hospital and even managed to get a 3-hour pass to attend a barbecue in his honor at one of the nurse’s houses nearby. Li Mae is an ICU nurse at the hospital Andrew was in. Her husband Don is a goalie on the Al Ain team and is a Respiratory Therapist at the same hospital. The hockey connection just kept on clicking. Andrew had all kinds of concerned friends looking after him.

The staff at the hospital were incredible. They took great care of Andrew and his parents. They even gave his father Andy a room next to Andrew’s and his mother Marianne stayed in a bed in Andrew’s room with him. They brought in 3 meals at meal times – one for each of them. Andrew was eating again & eating a lot.

On the day Andrew was to be discharged we tried to find out approximately how much the bill would be for the surgery, staying in ICU and etc. We were basically told that as Al Tawab was a UAE Government Hospital that they have never charged a patient for any treatment. They wouldn’t even know how to begin. The brain surgery was free. The UAE government covered everything.

Andrew and his parents came to back Dubai and awaited the results of the biopsy. All kinds of people were making sure that they were ok and helping in any way they could.

Dr Roos called after a few days upon receiving the pathology report. The first test was complete and showed no malignancy! This was a very positive result but they had to do a couple of more tests to be sure. Andrew would knock on wood whenever anyone said what a great result it would be.

A day or so later Dr. Roos called and told Andrew that it was not a tumor but an abscess. Andrew went back to the hospital and after further testing it was determined that he had somehow picked up an infection prevalent to South America. The chances of these bacteria attacking the brain were thought to be less than one in a million.

This was the one in a million chance that we were all hoping against hope for when given the original prognosis! Every one had thought they would be starting to say goodbye to Andrew. He was treated for 3 more days with anti-biotics in the hospital and given a clean bill of health! Long life and all that great stuff.

Andrew is going back to the States with his parents for follow up treatment to be sure that he is completely healthy. One of his old hockey buddies there has a connection at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. The Hong Kong and the Dubai Hockey Clubs have donated money to help pay Andrew’s bills at the American hospital in Dubai.

Andrew will visit with friends & family in the States for a while and then resume his travels in South America. He promises to come back to play in Dubai again next year although he is passing the Captaincy on to Roman Lebedev.

We are all looking forward to taking the ice with & against him again.