Scott Hamilton, Olympic champion ice skater, father of two boys and all-around nice guy, visited TODAY to talk about his latest health scare and his Stars On Ice tour. He sat down with TODAY Moms in the green room to talk about how his family weathered his recent brain tumor scare and whether he wants his sons to follow him into skating.
Hamilton survived testicular cancer in 1997 and underwent brain surgery last summer for recurrence of a benign brain tumor, which was unrelated to his previous cancer but threatened to take away his vision. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Tracie, and their two sons, Maxx, 3, and Aidan, 7.
(Full fangirl disclosure: I adore Scott Hamilton. C’mon, who doesn’t? It would be like not liking puppies and rainbows. The following interview has been edited for length.)
So how did you tell your kids about your brain tumor and surgery?
“We’re pretty honest and we’re pretty open about all that stuff. We talked openly about ‘daddy’s gotten sick.’ We didn’t use the word ‘brain tumor,’ as to allow it not to be so threatening. For us, it’s just like, ‘That’s just the way it is with Daddy, and he’s going to deal with it, and you’re going to get a lot of attention because Grandmommy and Poppa and Aunt Ninny and Uncle Jim are going to come stay with you guys, and you’re just going to have a big party while we’re gone, and we’ll be back in a week.’”
What was it like as you recovered?
“They were really very understanding and very kind to me in my recuperation period. It’s hard to deal with something like that, something that’s possibly life threatening, but you do the best you can – you don’t want to make everyone else sick. Y’know, it’s like it’s my illness, I’ll deal with it, I don’t want to give it to everybody else. They don’t need to suffer too. We fill our house with relatives and love and activity and laughter, and they’re fine.”
Did you see a different side to your boys as you went through this?
“I was just really impressed. Especially with Aidan, because he’s really physical and we play a lot of sports together, and we’ll chase each other all over the place. He was really kind about not getting frustrated with me because I couldn’t do everything that I wanted to with him. I’m still getting there. The other day we went to this playground, a beautiful day in Nashville, and Max is crawling all over the jungle gym. Then Aidan would come over and go ‘Tag, you’re it.’ He loves to play tag, he loves to run, and I was chasing him down, and he just thought that was the greatest thing ever. So it’s not easy for me to do that all the time, but I really wanted him to know that I’m OK and I’m getting stronger and better.
Do moments like that take on more significance for you now?
"When something’s threatened, you’re more in touch with those moments. They don’t fly by. You don’t miss them. You can’t. I’ve had enough of those bumps in the road where I’ve been forced to not sweat the small stuff so much. It’s funny, because I know I’m truly recovered when the little things annoy me, like when I’m annoyed sitting in traffic I go, ’Oh, OK, I must be better!’”
Do your kids skate, and would you want them to go into competitive figure skating?
"My oldest one, I took to the rink and we had some fun teaching him how to do basic skating. My youngest one hasn’t been to the ice yet but he loves watching the videos of skating. LOVES it. Whenever the garage is wet, it’s slippery on the floor, and he’ll go in there and pretend to put on skating shows. It’s really cute. He’s told me on the phone that he wants to go to the Olympics in skating and he wants me to teach him how to do it. He’s 3, so we talk about going to the rink but I don’t want him to go too soon. We’ll get him there when I feel he’s really ready.
"Would I discourage them? I’ll never discourage them from doing anything. I do feel strongly that I hope they find their own activity, other than skating, because I just feel like going to the rink and having to hear about their Dad all the time wouldn’t be fun or fair."