Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

It had been 34 days since he embarked on this routine, navigating the wheel of his black Ford truck along the Loop 101 in a suit he hadn't had a use for in weeks.

And there was one person in particular who needed to know this, needed to know Shane Doan was going to lace up his skates, tug on a game sweater and perform on ice again.

So Doan reached for his iPhone and dialed the 604 area code that belongs to British Columbia.

The ear on the other end was greeted with a chorus of thank yous, a message of being in the right place at the right time and a heartfelt appreciation for the help that was delivered.

"(Doan) basically thinks I saved his life."

Bad timing; rough times

Barely a year ago, Doan was mired in a health scare as he battled Rocky Mountain spotted fever. And the diagnosis came at one of the most unfair times of his career.

The then-37-year-old captain of the Coyotes was rejuvenated by a pair of sports hernia surgeries and started the 2013-14 season on a torrid pace with 23 points in 27 games.

On Dec. 3, the Coyotes opened a three-game road trip in Edmonton against the Oilers with Doan contributing a goal and assist to the 6-2 win. But he felt miserable. Actually, the flu-like symptoms he was coping with – chills alternating with sweats and a nagging headache – led to a sleepless night before the game.

But Doan persevered and not only did he face the Oilers, he played the following night in Calgary even though he wasn't feeling any better.

The Coyotes left for Vancouver following the 4-1 loss to the Flames and told Doan to rest on the off-day. He remained in his hotel room, curled up on the bed while wearing a trench coat, scarf, knit hat and gloves. Aside from now being hot and cold at the same time, the achiness spread to his knees, elbows and shoulders.

"When the blood would move, it would hurt," Doan said. "So I would just stay in one position, and I was shaking."

The team's head athletic trainer Jason Serbus discovered Doan like this and reached out to Dr. Mike Wilkinson, the Canucks' director of human performance.

Doan sat out the game against the Canucks but reported to the arena to get checked out by Wilkinson, who had treated Doan for hockey-related injuries.

"I don't know how many times we've stitched him up," Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson acknowledged the flu-like symptoms Doan was showing, but the severity of them tipped him off to something else entirely.

"I said, 'You're going to think I'm crazy and all your docs are going to think I'm crazy, but I think this is what you've got,'" Wilkinson said. "He said, 'Yes, I think you're crazy.'"

Spinal tap and more

Wilkinson, who has been with the Canucks since 2000, hails from Johannesburg, South Africa and previously worked in a rural hospital in Eastern Cape where basically the same illness as Rocky Mountain spotted fever – called tick-bite fever or weekend headache disease – is common. He'd also witnessed five cases in northern British Columbia and had the illness himself.

"When you've seen it or when you've actually had it before, you recognize it," he said.

A severe headache, fever and muscle aches are signs of the bacterial infection. So is a rash, and Doan had a constellation of spots on his chest.

"It was like I had bad acne all over my chest," he said.

He also had five spots on the palms of his hands and more on the soles of his feet.

Wilkinson immediately put Doan on antibiotics. If not treated in the early stages, the tick-born disease has the potential to worsen, linger and possibly become fatal. Wilkinson also alerted a team of infectious disease doctors in the Valley about his hypothesis.

Once Doan and the Coyotes landed back in Phoenix at 3 a.m., he went straight to Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center and was there for 18 hours to undergo a battery of tests.

Doan had a spinal tap to search for bacteria and had enough blood drawn to fill 16 Tabasco sauce bottle-sized viles. Those were studied to discover what type of bacteria was growing in his blood.

The U.S. government was also keeping tabs on Doan's status in the event others incidents appeared in Arizona. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, approximately 140 have been reported in the state from 2003-10 as a result of a brown-dog tick.

Although a mark was never found on Doan, he could have picked a tick off his 55-pound Australian Labradoodle, Finn, or suffered a bite when he went horseback riding around Thanksgiving.

"During your season, you get cuts on your hands and different things that you don't realize," Doan said.

Once he was cleared to go home, Doan spent much of his time in bed. Five days after he left the hospital, he tried to go for a walk outside. He made it 300 yards and then had to take a three-hour nap.

"It was like I was 85 years old," he said

The illness, which doesn't recur after treatment, was causing inflammation of the blood vessels all over the body, including the brain, which led to the extreme headaches, joint and muscle pain and a rash.

"It hurt to read," he said. "It hurt to look at things."

Home for Christmas

Slowly, Doan started to rebuild his energy and he went back home to southern Alberta for Christmas.

"It was amazing," he said. "I'd never done it — first one in 20 years. It was great."

He stayed at his sister Leighann's house with his four kids and wife, unwrapped clothes and the book "Fearless" on Christmas morning and ate turkey.

Doan also skated at the local rink in Three Hills, Alta., for an hour on four different occasions.

Once he flew back to the Valley, Doan continued to skate as he prepared for a comeback.

And when he was finally ready to return to the ice for an official game Jan. 4 against the Flyers, he called Wilkinson.

"What he did say to me is that it's given him a new enjoyment and a new lease on hockey and life," said Wilkinson, who also now receives a visit from Doan any time the Coyotes play the Canucks. "He doesn't take anything for granted anymore."

Amid a disappointing season like the one the Coyotes are currently stuck in, that perspective can be difficult to embrace. But after having the ability to play taken away from him — albeit for only a month — Doan finds a way to appreciate the adversity, the glory and the monotony in between even more than he did before.

"Not a lot of people, let alone play professional sports, even do their passion as their job and that's pretty special," Doan said. "You don't want to take that for granted."