The average time for a shift in ice hockey is between 30 and 45 seconds. It begins with a player climbing over the bench, grabbing the ice and charging up and down the rink at full speed. They throw their bodies at the puck, the opponent and the boards and give everything they can. When the shift ends, the player returns to the bench, drenched in sweat and exhausted as his lungs work overtime.

The average fan watching a hockey game breathes between six and 10 times during a hockey shift. However, a player will probably need closer to 12 to 14 breaths per shift. While no one in the arena is counting their breaths, there is no one more attuned to the power of breath than Gunnar Esiason.

Gunnar Esiason isn’t like most hockey players – his ability to complete a shift often depended on how his cystic fibrosis affected him that day. During his career at CF, hockey became a lifeline during some of his darkest moments.

“In a way, for me, a kind of… normality had come into my life, despite everything I had to deal with,” Gunnar told ESPN. “Hockey gave me that opportunity, right? When I was at my sickest, it was kind of like being discharged from CF.”

Gunnar, son of former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and broadcasting legend Boomer Esiason, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 25 months old. His story is chronicled in E60’s newest film, “Second Wind,” airing December 24 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Cystic fibrosis, or CF, is a genetic disorder that causes the body to produce thick mucus that can clog the pancreas and lungs and make breathing extremely difficult. There are also digestive complications that accompany the diagnosis. About 40,000 people in the United States and 100,000 people worldwide suffer from this condition. At the time of Gunnar’s diagnosis, CF patients typically died before reaching adulthood.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but the condition can be managed with daily medication and therapy.

“As I got older, (hockey) was actually kind of the barometer of my health,” Gunnar said. “I realized I was doing well when I was having fun playing.”

Since Gunnar comes from a respected family of athletes, his passion and commitment were nurtured from a young age – heck, his chronic suffering is low.

“My parents very consciously encouraged me to live the life I wanted,” remembers Gunnar. “When I played youth hockey, my dad was the dad banging on the glass while I was out on the ice. I remember just having so much fun and thinking, OK, it was worth it.”

For most of Gunnar’s hockey career, he only managed to manage shorter shifts than the rest of his teammates, and he frequently coughed and spit phlegm onto the ice. But despite the ups and downs, hockey was always there for him.

“I think if you look at it that way…he was able to play hockey and it was kind of like little victories, you know, so he had a great hockey season, it was healthy for him to be out there “Skating,” said Gunnar’s mother, Cheryl.

While Boomer and Cheryl researched treatments for Gunnar’s disorder, Boomer also took him to New York Rangers games, including playoff games and a Stanley Cup Final during the Rangers’ legendary 1994 run.

“I just wanted to make sure he had a full life since we were told it would be cut a little short when he was born,” Boomer said.

Aside from his on-ice skills, Gunnar followed in his famous father’s footsteps and joined his high school football team. But despite Gunnar’s passion, Boomer saw something his son didn’t.

“He knew I was a much better hockey player, so he told me straight up, ‘You’re not a really good soccer player,'” Gunnar shared. “Let’s think about hockey season in three or four months and then college in 12 months.”

The Esiason clan’s passion for ice hockey doesn’t end with Gunnar. His sister Sydney is married to NHL player Matt Martin, who currently plays for crosstown rival New York Islanders.

No matter who the Esiasons root for, the family has always supported Gunnar in his battle with cystic fibrosis. But the course of his battle with CF was never straightforward. While sports remained an important aspect of Gunnar’s life, CF caused him to miss his senior year of high school football.

Gunnar managed to play ice hockey during college, but his health began to decline in his early 20s. He found solace in coaching high school hockey at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York, where he also attended high school, and made sure he set goals for himself.

“I wanted to increase participation in the team. I wanted to keep players throughout all four years of high school. … So I developed these metrics for myself and put whatever health I had left into making this vision happen.” … And I think that’s how I coped with my CF for a long time.”

As with every phase of Gunnar’s life, hockey played an early role in his relationship with his wife Darcy.

“Gunnar and I met in 2015 and our first date was a Rangers game,” Darcy told ESPN. “And I grew up in New York, played hockey as a kid and was a Rangers fan, so of course I said yes.” Gunnar even proposed to Darcy while ice skating.

After a particularly rough few years battling CF, in 2018 Gunnar began a clinical trial for a drug called Trikafta, which had been funded by the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Gunnar noticed a change in his breathing and respiratory system overnight, but didn’t realize the full impact until he attended a recreational hockey game with his father. In his first shift back on the ice, Gunnar skated with ease for nearly two minutes.

“Everyone was like, ‘What the hell is going on with Gunnar?'” he said. “I didn’t cough once the whole game. I didn’t spit anything out. I just kept getting on the ice for these marathon shifts over and over again. Someone like that has finally found the courage to ask… ,What is wrong with you?'”

Gunnar said that after the game he and his father shared a moment together and knew that Trikafta really worked and that Gunnar’s life had changed forever. In 2019, Trikafta was approved by the FDA and was effective in about 90% of CF patients. The drug has also increased patients’ life expectancy to their mid-70s.

Trikafta has opened up a world of possibilities for Gunnar, who described a conversation he had with his wife while stuck in traffic on a road trip.

“It was almost like a question: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Ask. And it brought back so many different memories of being a high school football player and then a high school hockey player, and thinking that maybe being a high school hockey coach is my career… Suddenly, my mind turned into a blank whiteboard and the thought occurred to me that I could do whatever I wanted.

Now Darcy says Gunnar is passing on his love of hockey to his children Kaspar and Mieke without experiencing cystic fibrosis. “There are CF parents who are older than us and have children and have seen a little more of the struggle. But we’re just very lucky that our kids don’t have to see that, that piece of CF for the time being,” and dad is just dad, playing hockey in the driveway for hours and playing the monkey game and throwing them over his shoulder and things like that. ..”

Something as simple as playing hockey in the driveway or as complicated as starting a family once seemed impossible to Gunnar. But now he and his father, Boomer, can share the joys – and pains – of parenthood and grandparenthood.

“It was great for me, but I think it was even more special to see the way my dad looks at my son when we play. I think for him that’s my opinion…he must feel…there’s a little boy in his life who has a body that works and can use it however he wants without anything holding him back. And you can kind of see the sparkle in his eyes.

Gunnar still plays recreational hockey, coaches a high school team, cheers for the Rangers and embraces life with the passion and resilience that has always sustained him. What’s next? One day his children will train.

“Gunnar is always the dad who is willing to do anything and he can’t wait to become a coach,” says Darcy. “I don’t know if there’s anyone more excited about mite hockey practice at 5 a.m. on a Saturday than Gunnar.”