January 4, 2009
Lucia Address Illness Issue
CHN Staff Report
Don Lucia will miss next weekend\'s games against North Dakota.
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January 4, 2009
CHN Staff Report
Don Lucia will miss next weekend\'s games against North Dakota.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota coach Don Lucia, winner of two national championships during his tenure there, addressed the media at the Dodge Holiday Class about his illness, details of which had been undisclosed since being announced last last night.
Lucia did not take questions, and still would not go into great specifics about the problem, but did provide some insight along with team doctor Rob LaPrade.
Lucia has missed practice all week and was absent from Minnesota's game against Brown on Friday. He watched Saturday's game from the press box and spoke to the team between periods.
“I started feeling a little bit under the weather last weekend, and since last Saturday I’ve undergone numerous tests," Lucia said. "That’s why I have not been at practice. Some of the medications I’m on ... Right now I haven’t been feeling comfortable enough to be out there, and because of the timing of some of these tests I couldn’t make it [to practice].
“The thing is right now, all the tests have been negative. There are still three or four things that it could be, but right now we just don’t know. I will not be at the games next weekend in Grand Forks because I do have one more test scheduled for next Friday, and that’s the earliest they could do it.
“I do feel grateful for Dr. LaPrade and Dr. Feist. They have certainly gone above to get me in to see these doctors. Because of the timing with Christmas and New Year’s, a lot of people have been out of town. It’s a process that has been sped up as quickly as it can be, and hopefully after the tests next Friday or sometime next week we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on."
Lucia said that, contrary to some rumors, he doesn't have Stage 1 brain cancer or Bell's palsy.
“We really don’t have a diagnosis right now, so all the speculation out there, all of it is wrong," LaPrade said. "We don’t have a diagnosis, and the treatment algorithm is so complex, there are so many different things it could be that there is no way to speculate on that right now.
“So I think the best thing to do is to wait until Friday when we have some further testing done, and there’s a good chance we could have a diagnosis by then. If everybody could respect coach’s privacy [until then], because we don’t really know and we won’t know until that point in time."
