Veteran forward Nick Foligno is one of the five free-agent signings the Bruins made Wednesday, but it’s safe to say he has the most personal connection to his new city.
When Foligno’s daughter, Milana, was born with a congenital heart issue back in 2013, she ended up in Boston Children’s Hospital for a life-saving surgery a few weeks later. She underwent another surgery at Boston Children’s in 2018 to replace an infected valve.
In 2016, Foligno and his wife donated $500,000 to Boston Children’s Hospital and another $500,000 to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus (where he was playing at the time and where Milana was first diagnosed) to be used for cardiovascular research and heart care.
“Boston has a very special place in our heart because of that,” Foligno said Wednesday evening. “I think it was, my wife said, serendipitous in a way, coming back to a place that gave us a chance to be a family in the first place. We’re really looking forward to that bond already that’s created because of it.
“We love the doctors and the people in that hospital, and we’re looking forward to now playing in front of them and having them cheering us on. I think they were secretly cheering me on from afar, but now they have even more of a reason to cheer for me, which is great. Probably even more so for them to see how well Milana’s doing and see her more on a day-to-day basis will be really special. We’re pretty excited about being back in Boston for that reason.”
Foligno said Milana -- his first of now three kids -- is doing well now.
“She’s doing great,” he said. “She’s having a blast up here -- we’re up in Canada at our summer home. She’s on the lake, just a typical seven-year-old having a blast. A big thank you to Boston Children’s and also Nationwide Children’s in Columbus for allowing us to have a healthy daughter.”
Foligno also sees a natural fit on the ice, a notion that was reinforced after a recent conversation with Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.
“Just playing against them all these years, they’re a team I’ve admired from afar, their culture, their structure,” Foligno said. “They’re a team that’s always in the thick of it. They’re always a team that seems to have a chance to win on any given night and also in the postseason. That, topped with a conversation I was able to have with Bergy, which was really cool to be able to speak to Patrice and kind of pick his brain and hear how excited he would be to have me join.
“That excites you as a player. It’s one thing to hear it from a GM or coach, but when you can get a teammate lobbying to try to get you on their team, especially someone with his respect in the league and the way he plays, to me that carried a lot of weight. It’s a team I’m really excited to be joining right now.”
Related
