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“The news,” recalls Poirier, “just got more real and more sad as the night went on. And then we got the news from him just before he announced it.”

Schwartz’s public announcement of the diagnosis came through a Facebook video Monday night. “This is a bit of a difficult announcement but I might as well tell you guys this,” he said. “I have leukemia, and I’m going to be in hospital for a little while, maybe a couple of weeks, so I can beat this thing.

“I’m doing this, sharing this information with you because I tell you guys everything, sometimes a little too much, you know, go to the gym, take selfies … I don’t know if the hair’s going to stay or what, but anyways, I would just ask, you know, that I’m going to be connected and will try to get back to everybody because, yeah, I will keep you guys posted and we’re going to beat this because other people have in the past and other people will in the future and I’m going to do it, too.”

By mid afternoon Tuesday, close to 20,000 people had liked or shared the post, or offered largely supportive wishes.

“It’s overwhelming the amount of messages on social media, from survivors to ordinary folks, the mayor and police chief and hockey players,” he said from his hospital bed Tuesday. “The support from the community has been amazing.

“There are,” he added, “a lot of people in our community who are not on the radio and aren’t getting those thousands of messages. I appreciate it and am humbled by it, and I know that while I didn’t ask for any of this, I’m happy to — and it sounds cliché — to join the fight with others who are experiencing this, and we’re all going to beat this together.”

bdeachman@postmedia.com