NHL.com's Brian Compton shares his MS journey in both advocacy and fundraising in the fight against the disease.
In mid 2024, NHL.com Managing Editor Brian Compton was having what he thought was a heart attack at 46. After a number of tests in the Emergency Department, Compton was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Since receiving the news, Compton has gone public helping raise awareness and money in the fight against MS. I sat down with him ahead of this year's Walk MS and discussed in the nearly two years following his diagnosis.
Frank Zawrazky, THN: Brian, it's been almost two years now since your diagnosis. In prior interviews, you talked about certain life changes you've had to make. Could you elaborate on some of those for me?
Brian Compton: It's really things I should have been doing all along, like everybody else: going to the gym, exercising more, eating better, sleeping better, sleeping more. I worked nights for a very long time. That stopped right before I got diagnosed, probably about six months before I got diagnosed … I would get to bed at 4:30 in the morning, be up at 10 to run errands and stuff before I started working again. Working days has kind of been a blessing from a health perspective, and again trying to take better care of myself, which is something I should have been doing anyway.
THN: MS affects people in so many different ways, but for you it specifically goes after the immune system, lowers it a little bit. Is that a fair assessment?
BC: Yes. I mean, it's different for everybody, but the one thing that's common is that the brain and the immune system, the communication between the two has kind of snapped. So, my brain is sending incorrect signals to my immune system. For me, it's more my left leg than anything else. I do get pain in my hands and fingers sometimes, but for me, it's my left leg. My brain and my immune system aren't communicating properly and my immune system is being told that there's something wrong with my left leg, so my left leg is very heavy almost 24 hours a day. I do get a break every now and then, but it's constant pain in the left leg with heaviness. I can still move around and stuff, but clearly it can be very painful sometimes.
THN: How do you manage that on a day-to-day basis?
BC: Rest when I have to. Fatigue is a big thing with MS, too. I mean, today, I was just exhausted getting out of bed, but I don't want to be in bed all day — nobody does. You want to do stuff. It's a pain in the leg when I can't move around. My wife's been very compassionate, understanding, she just lets me chill out. The good thing about my job is that there's not a lot of moving around, it's a desk job. But, you do have to move around and keep things moving at the same time, so it's just finding that balance.
THN: During your recent Madison Square Garden interview, you discussed wanting to help others with MS. Outside of the "Walk MS", which we'll get to later, where have you been able to kind of pay that support forward with people in the MS community?
BC: Basically, it's just the platform that I have. I think that's the reason why I went public in the first place, because I knew the platform that I have provides an opportunity to help people who have this disease like I do, but are in far worse shape. I'm very blessed at the NHL, too, they take care of their employees with health benefits and whatnot. There's a lot of people who have this disease who aren't in the same position and don't have the means to even get the infusions that I get, which is thousands of dollars every month if you don't have health insurance.
I have made friends within the MS community, which has been great too, because as wonderful as everybody in my family is, you can't fully understand unless you have it. It's nothing against anybody who doesn't have it, and I appreciate everybody's concerns and well wishes and all the donations that I received and everything else. However, having chats with people who have MS has been a huge difference for me, and if I hadn't gone public, I don't think I'd be able to have those conversations.
THN: It’s very similar to the guys that you cover on ice, albeit in a very different lane.
BC: Yeah, everybody has something, right? I mean, that's another thing that I've learned, that's just to be a better person. I used to be one of those people running through Penn Station, or power walking through New York City, like, 'Oh, this person in front of me is so freaking slow,' you know what I mean? And you just don't know what that person's going through, right? That's just made me a more compassionate person over these past couple years, something I should have been a long time ago.
We all blossom in different ways over the course of life, right? But I think in one regard, being diagnosed has made me more compassionate, understanding that everybody is dealing with something, whether they tell you or keep it to themselves.
THN: That is a really, really unique way of looking at it. You're taking this disease that is life-altering, but could cause a lot of issues in certain cases, and you're saying I'm gonna use it to better myself and the world around me, both internal and external.
BC: I think it's a situation where I don't want to say 'everybody wins,' because having this disease sucks. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, but if I can help myself and help others at the same time, that's certainly a win-win, and that's just the way I'm trying to approach everything.
THN: After your diagnosis, your mom was actually diagnosed with MS. As you said, people don’t know fully about MS, unless they are actually living with it. How did you guys kind of support each other going through the same battle?
BC: That's the other thing. It took forever — really only coming in the past few years, to be honest — to get a diagnosis. It was so hard to get one and my mom certainly has had this for at least 25 years. She had what they called a mini-stroke back in 2000 or 2001, and you know, she was misdiagnosed. MRIs weren't what they were now, you know what I mean? So, it just took forever. I got diagnosed before she did, which doesn't make any sense. But just piecing things together, I had perfect vision until I was 22 or 23, and then all of a sudden my eyes went wonky. I had cataract surgery when I was 30 years old.
It took forever to take the proper steps as far as MS research goes, the MRIs, the technology, the medicine that they have now is fantastic. I call her almost every day, or she calls me. She's 76, I'm 48 — that's a huge gap. Just seeing how she's doing, she lives in New Jersey, which doesn't sound far, but with New York traffic, it's a lot.
THN: Tell me a little bit about your experience with WalkMS.
BC: Last year, we raised a total of — not my personal walk, but all the walks combined — about $23 million. From what I've read, in the late 80s, there were 42 of these things, now there's, like, 170-175. It's made huge strides, which is great. The one difficult part: last year, people were very enthusiastic about donating. I think sometimes there's people, and it's nothing against anybody, you donate once, well, I did this already and I totally get it, and times are tough for a lot of people, I totally understand that too. But speaking for me, I live with this every day. Like, I wish I didn't have to bug people to donate.
But the event at Jones Beach was fantastic. I think we had 1,500 people, 2,000 people, something like that. Some people are in wheelchairs and walkers, and they can't walk, so their family members walk for them. It's a mile-and-a-half, or you can do three. I did the three last year and I fully intend to do three miles again. Hopefully it's a beautiful day. It's right on the boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean. It's a great event. It's quick, it only lasts about an hour, hour and a half.
I have a lot of family coming in, which will be fantastic. They come in, we do the walk together, and then we spend the rest of the weekend together, so I can't thank my friends and family enough for all their support. It's been unwavering since this happened. You know, with my mom, it's a double whammy.
THN: Before we head out, is there anything that I may have missed, any messages you want to send to the wider MS community, the hockey world that may be reading this piece?
BC: The hockey community, and you know this I'm sure as well as I do, is so special. Like, there's so many amazing people within the hockey community. When I first came out, true story, when I first came out with the diagnosis, the first person who texted me was (Calgary Flames right winger) Ryan Strome, who I had not spoken to in probably seven or eight years. I used to see him all the time covering the Islanders for as long as I did, but hadn't heard from the guy in years, and he was just like, 'Brian, I'm so sorry, I hope you're doing okay, let me know if you need anything.'
It was such an example of how wonderful that community is. I'm very blessed in that regard, working where I work and dealing with the athletes that I've had the chance to deal with over the course of 18-and-a-half years. It's just amazing. I know sometimes I can come off as annoying asking for donations. I wish I didn't have to but I'm very blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, who I want to be surrounded by for a very long time still. I still think I have some gas in the tank, and I want to use it as much as I can.
I'm just very blessed. If you have MS, and you don't want to go public with it, I totally understand. My DMs are open. If you want to just reach out to me and have a conversation, I'm happy to do that, because I really felt alone when this first when this first came down on me but I was fortunate enough to connect with somebody pretty quickly who assured me that I'm gonna be okay, and that's just the main thing.
If you have this and you're diagnosed early, the chances are you're gonna have a pretty good life. Don't feel like you're alone, because you're not.
If you'd like to donate to Brian's Walk MS which takes place on Saturday, May 16, please click below.
