After battling Crohn's disease for 14 years, John Smythe ready to fight for an Olympic medal

As if packing and preparing for an Olympics in a pandemic in Tokyo wasn't stressful enough, consider the journey Canadian field hockey player John Smythe has to go through just to get on the plane. 

The 31-year-old Smythe is traveling with a small tickle trunk of medical equipment, pills, vitamins and even syringes to help him get through the Games. 

Smythe has Crohn's disease. And it nearly killed him 14 years before this maiden voyage to an Olympics, where he and the Canadian team will open their Games Saturday against Germany.

"I jab myself with a syringe every week in the stomach or in the thigh," he told CBC Sports. "I had to organize that and figure that timeline out. I wanted to take it the day we leave so I would have to take as little as possible with me on the trip."

The syringes he's bringing are for the Humira injections he'll be jabbing into his body to be able to manage his symptoms. 

In remission

Humira is a biologic medication that helps Smythe digest food and needs to be chilled to a perfect temperature, so he also had to store it with ice packs to keep it chilled throughout the long trip from Vancouver to Tokyo. 

Smythe, from Vancouver, has been in remission for about seven years and says he's feeling stronger than ever. He still has flare-ups but has figured out a strategy on managing his symptoms. 

It's a long way from that day in October 2007 when he was diagnosed.

"It was a life or death situation. I lost half my blood. Had four blood transfusions. Lost 30 pounds. I was so far gone," he said.

The medications doctors gave him weren't working. He was bleeding to death and a doctor told him to get an immediate surgery to remove his colon. 

It was a life or death situation. I lost half my blood. Had four blood transfusions. Lost 30 pounds. I was so far gone.- John Smythe

"They removed my colon very quickly. That conversation happened on Oct. 11 around 8 p.m., 2007. By 7 a.m. the next day I was in the operation room," he said. 

It's a painful, invasive procedure that left Smythe staring at a long road to recovery. Getting back to top form and competing for a spot on the men's national field hockey team was not even a consideration. Putting on weight and rebuilding muscle was his only focus.

"It was really dark at that time," he said. "My lowest weight was 120 pounds. I was skin and bones. My cheeks were sucked in. My eyes were bulging out of my head," he said.

But Smythe was hell-bent on getting back to full health. Those early days after surgery were challenging, but the food he was consuming was a small consolation prize.

"I put whipped cream on everything. I ate like a king for like three months," he said, laughing. "I didn't have to worry about what I was eating. Then it was about building muscle in my abdominal area."

The first few weeks of rehab seemed impossible but Smythe regained his strength, all while learning how to manage his disease.

Roadblocks and delays

"Three months after that I was running again and by six months I was training with the junior team again," he said. "It was fast."

For as fast as his recovery was, his pursuit of making it to the national team hit a series of roadblocks and delays. He didn't even make the junior World Cup team after recovering. Three years after his diagnosis Smythe started to give up hope he'd ever accomplish his goal of competing for the men's national team.

"I thought that part of my life was done. That dream was done," he said. "I went to a couple of carding camps to try out for the team and didn't make it."

About a decade ago Smythe was about to call it quits, but then he got a call from an old coach asking if he wanted to come to a tryout. 

"I had nothing to lose. I was given a lifeline then when the coaches put me on the squad," he said. 

That flicker of hope ignited a burning desire within Smythe to crack the roster of the men's national team. It was slow-going but he chipped away at making the top 18 and then finally years later cracked the top 16. 

It appeared he would achieve his Olympic dream when the team, which included his brother, Iain, qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016. But he found himself among the final cuts.

"My brother got to go. It was great to see him live out his dream, but I had to do some grieving though," he said. "And then about four months after I had to learn why I wasn't selected. 

"It was my fear of failure. I was playing too simple. I didn't take the risks that I needed to take to make it on the senior team."  

Fast forward five years later and Smythe has finally reached the summit of his seemingly impossible journey of getting to the Olympics. His resilience, positivity and work ethic are not lost on his teammates.

"It's amazing. I've known him since he was 16, 17 years old. He's a couple years younger than me. He looks a lot younger and likes to play that up," teammate Mark Pearson said. "He has to battle in a totally different way. It's been a journey for him. He's a really important player for our team now."

"I've known Johnny for a really long time. He had some stuff he had to get through. It was hard for him," team captain Scott Tupper said. "It took him a little bit longer than some other guys. But he works so hard and he's developed into a high-quality international player now.

"He has to visit the restroom more than anyone else on the team and that's kind of a running joke. It's not a thing that he's talking about all the time. He has challenges but he puts himself in a position to succeed."

Smythe will be taking to the field with his teammates for the opening game of the Olympics against Germany, a surreal moment for him.

"Resilience has been a big part of keeping me going. I like to learn from my mistakes. When I got cut from Rio it was heart-breaking and gut-wrenching," he said. "But I'm here now. And I would love to leave a legacy and be the top-performing Canadian field hockey at the Olympics.

I don't play this game for fame and fortune. We're field hockey players in Canada," referencing the reverence the country's sports fans save for the ice version. "I just love the game."