London athlete who suddenly lost sight earns national blind hockey team spot (2024)

A London athlete who suddenly lost his eyesight within the last two years has already made a remarkable sporting transformation, earning a spot on Canada’s national blind hockey team.

Nik Bullick was 20. He played lacrosse with the London Blue Devils, football with the London Beefeaters and other sports – all part of a sporting passion that began when he was young. A collision in a lacrosse game at the end of the 2022 season suddenly jarred his vision.

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“My left eye went blurry . . . I thought it would just go away. It wasn’t that hard of a hit,” Bullick said, recalling a persistent white spot in his eye that led him to see a doctor – who delivered a stunning diagnosis.

“The doctor said what was happening in my left eye, was going to affect my right one,” Bullick said.

He was diagnosed with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a disorder stemming from maternal genes that usually affects young men and causes progressive visual loss. The condition affects about 35,000 people worldwide and thousands more carry the genetic mutation that can cause sudden vision loss, according to the nonprofit LHON Canada.

Within just three months, Bullick’s vision had declined to five per cent.

“It (the eyesight) feels like after you stare at the sun too long or having a camera flashing at your eyes all the time,” he said. “I can make up objects, sometimes the colour, but that’s about it.”

His life was dramatically altered. Especially his life in sports. He told his lacrosse coaches he wouldn’t be playing again. There were more “tough” conversations, as he puts it, with the Beefeaters.

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Practising sports like football, baseball and lacrosse had always “consumed” his life since he was a child, Bullick said. Hockey? He learned to skate at age four and played until 17 but “was never that great at it.”

But the sport became a connection to the visually impaired community after he heard about the Toronto Ice Owls, a team made up of legally blind or partially sighted players who are anywhere from 16 to 85 years old.

“I was very skeptical at first. Blind hockey? How is that going to work? What does that even mean?” he said. “I thought it was going to be slow-paced with guys running into each other.

“It was a life-changing experience (discovering blind hockey). It gave me a sense things are going to be alright.”

The puck is larger than in traditional hockey and it’s made of steel. Ball bearings inside the hollow puck rattle, making a noise that allows players to track it. Soon, Bullick discovered there was a national squad – and his athletic instincts took over, leading to a year of training before tryouts.

He was recently named to the 20-player roster.

“I was pretty pumped,” said his dad, James Bullick. “I was crying. It was really good to see all the work pay off.”

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Now 22, Bullick, a defenceman, will be one of six rookies on the Canadian team, and one of two from the London region alongside Chaz Misuraca of Stratford.

Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries with national blind hockey teams. They’ll be playing in a best-of-three series in St. Louis this weekend, with all the games broadcast on YouTube.

Two years after losing his sight and now set to study at Fanshawe College starting this fall, Bullick is thinking of a career as a physiotherapist or physical trainer.And he especially wants to help other members of the blind community.

“It’s something you have to do when you’re in the blind community, your door has to be open to whoever reaches out because I know if I ever had to reach out to someone their door would be open,” he said.

And hockey, he hopes, will continue to play a big role in his future.

“My dream is to play with my teammates on the Paralympic level and showcase our game on TV,” he said. “It would mean a lot to see the game that changed my life change even more people’s lives.”

bbaleeiro@postmedia.com

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