Closer Weekly

HEART TO HEART

Figure skater Scott Hamilton on family, fatherhood and his plans for the future.

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It’s been said the true test of a champion isn’t if they triumph, but whether they can overcome obstacles. Olympic gold medalwinni­ng figure skater Scott Hamilton has done that by any measure. Last fall, Scott — who battled testicular cancer in 1997 and brain tumors in 2004 and

2010 — received his third brain tumor diagnosis. “I am doing great,” Scott, 58, tells Closer. Thankfully, it’s benign and “seems to be behaving itself. It’s the devil I know instead of the devil I don’t, so that comes with a great deal of comfort and confidence.” Scott’s faced life since the 1984 Winter Olympics with the same gusto: He co-founded the hit touring show Stars on Ice, expanded his family in 2014 with two kids he and wife Tracie, 47, adopted from Haiti, launched the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation (scottcares.org) and has teamed up with the Hotel Keys of Hope Cancer Survivors Reunion. Despite adversity, he stays upbeat. “I’m 5-foot-4 and bald as the day is long,” he quips, but “I’ve gotten so much more out of life than I ever dreamed.”

— Gregg Goldstein

Even with all your challenges, you’ve had a great attitude. What’s your secret?

It’s all perspectiv­e. I was born with a brain tumor, so I trace it back to being in and out of the hospital from ages 4 to 8. They couldn’t come up with a diagnosis because, in the ’60s, they didn’t have the technology to find it, so my parents took me to the rink. All of these good things wouldn’t have come if not for this brain tumor, so it’s hard to be angry at. I look at it as the source of me finding my purpose, and I joke around a lot because it’s like, what else am I going to do? [Laughs]

That’s great, but do you ever get scared that the tumor will turn malignant?

Yeah, at times. Everyone wants to live to

100 or more, but God doesn’t owe me a day. Whatever my anxieties or objections are, I’ll let them go and just live my life.

What inspires you to keep going?

With the mystery of how long I’ll be here, I am going to make my time count. I want to grab joy out of every day I have.

Why did you get involved in Extended Stay America and American Cancer Society’s Hotel Keys of Hope Cancer Survivors Reunion?

They’re in the trenches with people fighting for their lives, giving them the ability to have comfort and dignity through their cancer treatments. I think that’s beautiful.

How have your kids dealt with everything?

Your children look to you for how they should feel. When they said, “Daddy, is your brain tumor back?” I smiled and said, “Yeah, it is!” They said, “Are you nervous, scared or upset?” I said, “No, and you shouldn’t be either.”

You already had two sons, Aidan, 13, and Maxx, 9, when you decided to adopt Evelyne, 13, and Jean Paul, 16, from Haiti.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. [Laughs] When the 2010 earthquake happened, my son wanted to buy Christmas gifts for kids in an orphanage, and he picked out Jean Paul. My wife sought him out when she went to work on a missionary trip, and they and his sister Evelyne built a really beautiful relationsh­ip. Evelyne clung on to me, and Jean Paul fell so in love with Tracie that he never wanted her to leave. There was something happening that was bigger than us, and we had to pay attention. It’s been a great joy.

Have you taken them on the ice yet?

They’ve all skated! Evelyne did for the first time three weeks after we brought her home. Her arms were flailing all over the place, but she never fell once! Maxx was a figure skater, and now he wants to play hockey because he got the bug. Aidan plays soccer — he got that from his Haitian brother Jean Paul, who is a crazy soccer player.

And you’ll be celebratin­g your 15th anniversar­y with Tracie later this year.

I was having a blast on the road 10 months a year, but I felt more comfortabl­e around 17,000 people than I did around one. I wasn’t able to maintain a normal relationsh­ip. When I survived my illness, I needed to shut down for a while and allow a new life to surface. Had I not, I wouldn’t have been in a place to meet Tracie. In that way, cancer gave me my wife and my family. I’m grateful for that.

What’s up next for you?

Oh man, I’m working harder than ever! I’ve been building a cancer foundation for the past two years. It was an initiative [that began years ago] at the Cleveland Clinic, so we’re kind of like an 18-year-old startup. We’re very small in staff, but we’re trying to build relationsh­ips with a lot of cancer entities, centers and scientific charities.

That’s great!

The other side is that skating has given me everything, so I’m giving skating something back. The Nashville Predators asked if I would help them build a skating academy — a “learn-to-skate” program in their rink — so I volunteer. We’ve become a model for other programs. In our third year, we already have over 1,000 students.

“You have one life and it’s yours

to live. Let’s live it actively, joyfully and with success!” — Scott (on a victory lap at the 1984 Winter Olympics

in Sarajevo)

Wow. Congratula­tions!

It is a huge joy driver in my life, and things are just nonstop. I wrote a book that’s going to be released in the first quarter of next year called Finish First: Winning Changes Everything. My focus is: You have a purpose in life, and here are the tools that can awaken that purpose and get you to the finish line.

Sounds like your life is going great!

Every day is gravy. I don’t allow things to stress me out as I used to, and I look at each day as an opportunit­y and a chance to celebrate! — Reporting by Ilyssa Panitz

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 ??  ?? Brian Orser (left), Scott and Jozef Sabovčík at the 1984
Winter Olympics With (from left) Tracie,
Evelyne, Aidan, Maxx and Jean Paul.
Brian Orser (left), Scott and Jozef Sabovčík at the 1984 Winter Olympics With (from left) Tracie, Evelyne, Aidan, Maxx and Jean Paul.
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