By Mark Bonokoski
Sandra Lewis went to the grave
Wednesday morning where her son lies buried
in his Tie Domi hockey jersey, first to dust
the freshly fallen snow from the flowers, and
then to plant a Toronto Maple Leaf flag next
to the temporary marker that bears her son's
nickname. Trevor Lewis—the beneficiary
of two heart transplants, now dead at the age
of 19—loved to be called T-man.
The pallbearers at his funeral
last week all wore Maple Leaf hockey jerseys,
and each will soon have T-man emblazoned on
the back, along with the number 84, for the
year in which their young friend was born.
 The
pastor at the Bendale Bible Chapel wore a Maple
Leaf jersey, too, as did the majority of the
mourners who packed the small church a week
ago Tuesday where Trevor Lewis’ casket
was draped in a Maple Leaf banner.
“At the cemetery, it
was a sea of blue and white,” said his
mother. “There were 45 cars in the procession.
It was unbelievable, and so very, very touching.”
As was written here two Sundays
ago, Trevor Lewis was buried in his cherished
Tie Domi jersey not just because he was the
hardest of die-hard Toronto Maple Leaf fans,
but because he, too, was a fighter like Tie
Domi is a fighter—not as a fighter knuckling
his way to a team record in penalty minutes,
but as a fighter for life against an odds-on
death.
What other word but “fighter”
could be used to describe Trevor Lewis, a young
man who was born with a major heart defect,
had life-saving surgery at birth, then a heart
transplant at the age of six, and a second heart
transplant only three years ago at the age of
16?
Sadly, however, the fight
is now over. Trevor Lewis died of heart failure
at Toronto General Hospital on Nov. 13.
Trevor Lewis’ death
brought out the human side of the Toronto Maple
Leaf franchise. Without an advanced word spoken,
Maple Leaf vice-chairman Ken Dryden showed up
for both the viewing and the funeral, taking
Trevor Lewis’ two young brothers aside
for some private words.
“I don't know exactly
what he said to them,” said their mother.
“But whatever they were, they were very
comforting words. They had a calming effect
on those boys.”
 Because
the Leafs were playing in Edmonton that day,
Tie Domi called the Lewis family’s home
from his cellphone as the team bus was making
its way to the arena.
“He must have talked
to me for five to 10 minutes,” Sandra
Lewis said. “He had read your article
about Trevor’s death, and said he was
sorry he never got to meet the ‘little
fighter’ who admired the Leafs so much—even
when the team wasn't playing the greatest.”
In his emotional heart of
hearts, Trevor Lewis was torn between two right
wingers on the Leaf squad—the rough-and-tumble
game of Tie Domi, and the soft-hands and deft
touch style of Alexander Mogilny. He had jerseys
for both players, but took No. 28 to his grave.
When the Lewis family arrived
at the funeral home that night, there were flowers
from Tie Domi and his family and, in the lineup
of mourners, was Domi’s brother Dash who,
despite being centre stage in the MFP computer
imbroglio, left his problems behind and wore
his heart on his sleeve.
“He came up to me, and
he put his arms around me,” said Sandra
Lewis. “And then he began to cry. He said
he was there to represent the Domi family. He
was very emotional and so very sincere.”
A friend of a friend came
up with two tickets for the Leafs return home,
and their game Tuesday night against the Vancouver
Canucks. Sandra Lewis took her daughter, Samantha,
and they sat high in the stands as the Leafs
secured a 2-1 victory, and as Tie Domi’s
first-period fight with Bryan Allen gave him
his 2,000th penalty minute in a Leaf uniform,
and therefore the team record for the amount
of time spent in the sin bin.
“Trevor would have loved
that fight,” his mother said.
In the end, Sandra Lewis couldn't
find the strength to stay until the end of the
game.
“There were just too
many Tie Domi jerseys in the crowd,” she
said. “Everywhere I looked, there was
someone wearing a Tie Domi jersey, and all I
could think of was Trevor in his. The feeling
of emptiness and loss became just too unbearable
to stay to the end of the game. I just couldn't
hang in.”
 Before
she left the Air Canada Centre, however, Sandra
Lewis went to one of the concession stands and
bought a small Toronto Maple Leaf flag.
The very next morning, she
made her way to her son’s grave at Pine
Hill Cemetery—first to dust the freshly
fallen snow from the flowers, and place the
toppled flowers from Tie Domi and his family
back atop the pile.
And then Sandra Lewis
unfurled that Toronto Maple Leaf flag she had
bought the night before, and planted it next
to the temporary marker that will bear her son's
nickname until his tombstone arrives.
The Toronto Sun,
Friday November 28, 2003 Page 6
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