Kingston Frontenacs

As one of the women helping to shape sports in social media, Missy Deyo (the co-creator and co-owner of Babes Dig Balls with Miranda Furtado) is facing her biggest challenge yet. While the New York Jets may be suffering with a quarterback controversy and the Los Angeles Lakers lament the poor start to what should have been a dream season, Deyo is facing something they would never want to endure.

Having suffered from a broken ureter caused by stones, Deyo will be having her right kidney removed ten days before Christmas.

While it is something that no one should ever have to endure, let alone before Christmas, Deyo has managed to find inspiration.

In hoping to truly emphasize the meaning of the spirit of giving, she has started a campaign titled So, So Much Hope, in the hopes of motivating people to register for blood and/or organ donation. After the surgery, there is the remote possibility that Deyo may need a transplant.

Working for her hometown Kingston Frontenacs as a Social Media Coordinator for the 2012-13 season, her determined fight with kidney ailments has been nothing short of inspiring.

Deyo is very visible with the Frontenacs organization providing live game updates online, conducting social media, and even appearing in a parade with some of the players. While Darcy Greenaway may be the Frontenacs' leading scorer, Deyo is the Frontenacs' leading optimist. Despite her multiple surgeries, her tenacity and determination is nothing short of amazing.

Her contribution to hockey in Kingston has brought renewed enthusiasm to a struggling franchise . While Deyo may never grace the ice like other Kingston hockey legends such as three-time Winter Games gold medalist Jayna Hefford and Doug Gilmour, like them, she is a true role model and an inspiration.

While the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League start their season looking to build momentum, (after a 2011-12 season that saw the Frontenacs miss the postseason), one of their own is enduring an ordeal that would make being the worst team in the league a pleasure. Frontenacs social media co-ordinator and freelance sports writer Missy Deyo is suffering from kidney disease. Having already endured multiple surgeries, the stoic Deyo is forced to undergo another surgery very soon.

Deyo first came to prominence in the sports world when she started writing an online column about attractive people in sport (both men and women). While her column grew in popularity, she would eventually conduct interviews with the athletes in question and gain over 6,000 followers on Twitter. Growing up in Kingston, Deyo seemed to be the perfect fit (returning to the place where she grew up), when the Frontenacs hired her to work in public relations for the 2012-13 campaign.

Although her homecoming should have been one filled with jubilation rather than desolation, Deyo’s tenacity provides a powerful message. In sports, determination and perseverance are essential tools to success. While Deyo may not be an athlete herself, sometimes people that are affiliated with a team in another capacity can be just as much a part of the family.

When the wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft passed away in 2011 (Myra Hiatt Kraft), the Patriots placed her initials on their jerseys. Brian Smith, a sportscaster in the Ottawa area passed away in 1995, and had a banner raised in his honor by the Ottawa Senators hockey club. When Harry Caray, a popular broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs passed away, a statue was built outside of Wrigley Field.

Having endured more than any person deserves to suffer, Deyo’s inner strength and drive to overcome her ailments makes her tougher than any goon in the OHL. As the Frontenacs continue to rise to prominence in the OHL, Deyo’s perseverance in the light of difficult circumstances should serve as an influence for the team. The unofficial theme for the Frontenacs season just might have to be "Make it for Missy."

In this story, Deyo is the underdog, and fans cannot help but root for her. When one considers that 2012 has seen its share of sporting upsets, like the New York Giants upsetting the heavily favored Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Kings shocking the hockey world by claiming the Stanley Cup and the Washington National winning the National League East, Deyo has all the tools to pull off another upset and beat this kidney disease for good.