Sportscaster ‘King of Fight’ Eddie Zawadzki facing his hospital fight alone

“I’m a tough guy, but it is tough being in a hospital bed having to look down at this stump that was my foot,” sports broadcaster, author and CFP columnist Eddie Zawadzki told me over the telephone from St. Joseph’s Health Care Center this morning. Eddie, 53, diagnosed with the sudden onset of diabetes, having been rushed to hospital after collapsing at his home, underwent partial amputation of his foot on June 22. Eddie did not know he was diabetic. A gash that suddenly showed up on his foot took him to his doctor’s office. Even with antibiotics, the gash only got worse. Then he suddenly collapsed.

At home, Eddie looks after his 95-year-old mother, Wanda. Understanding the anxiety of them being separated from each other during Eddie’s hospital stay, doctors at St. Joseph’s Health Center, in Toronto, arranged for Wanda to come and stay in her son’s room. “It was Dr. George Vincent who had my mother brought here. He’s a terrific surgeon, a terrific man,” Eddie explained. He whispered into the telephone that he had what doctors described as a “small heart attack” while on the operating table, not wanting his mother to hear. In a day when we hear so many negative stories about hospitals, St. Joseph’s Health Center is an inspiration to the many who care about Eddie and Wanda. Eddie and Wanda, who live together, are rarely ever apart. Wanda, in incredibly good health despite her advanced years, even accompanies Eddie on many road trips throughout the United States where Eddie is invited to book signings.

Family is everything to the Zawadzki’s. Orphaned as a child in war-torn Poland, the highlight of Wanda’s life is when Eddie took her back home in 2006, to reunite with her sister, keeping the meeting a surprise until the two sisters were within view of each other. Wanda and sister, Janina hadn’t laid eyes on each other for 60 years. It was an incredibly joyous occasion that brought people to tears when Eddie sent back a video showing the reunited sister’s first hug. Incurable pet lovers, Eddie and Wanda miss their pets, Mory, a Yorkie-Poo; shepherd, Hank and cat, Lalek now having to be under the care of a friend during their hospital stay. Mory, was nothing but a skinny ragamuffin, Eddie-described “with ribs sticking out from his hungry little body”, when he and his Mom picked him up from the airport to which he had been flown in from a native reserve some 1,500 miles away. (An Orphans Bond, CFP March 13, 2013) A well known Canadian sports broadcaster and author, Eddie cut his writing teeth at Toronto Free Press, forerunner to CFP. Now the proud author of several best selling Canadian trivia books that highlight Canadian achievements in the world of sports, including his latest Poles in the New World, Eddie’s is a familiar face on television as a colour commentator on several national televised boxing broadcasts and numerous world championship kick boxing matches on Rogers, CBC, TSN and ESPN 2. Having hosted shows on several local radio stations, Eddie appears often on the media as a respected fight analyst. In his personal life, Eddie, with his huge Polish heart, is always reaching out to help someone else. It was when I was leading a fund raiser for Canadian Boxing icon George Chuvalo, after the death of his beloved wife, Lynn, when I first met Eddie Zawadzki, who has remained my close personal friend ever since. Though Eddie is doing his best to hang on to his tough-guy image while laid up at St. Joe’s, friends like me worry that mother and son will have no income as long as Eddie can’t get out on the road for his book-signing engagements, their main source of income. I am asking CFP readers to help keep Eddie and his mother together until they are back on the road again. Those willing to make even the smallest contribution can do so through Paypal, Account name: 1edwardzawadzki@gmail.com. Thank You in English, dziękuję in Polish.

The Runyonesque George Chuvalo and Eddie Zawadzki

By Judi McLeod Monday, May 8, 2006 Canada Free Press (CFP) Sports Editor Edward Zawadzki is brushing the lint off his tuxedo and spit shining his shoes. The Fight Against Drugs Campaign is organizing a special George Chuvalo tribute. More...

Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.