'You grab what hope there is and you blow it up' (Montreal Gazette)

Bob Gainey and his children have announced the creation of the Gainey Foundation.

It was established in honour of Gainey's wife, Cathy, who died of cancer in 1995, and daughter Laura, who drowned in December.

The press conference at which Gainey (Montreal Canadiens Genral Manager) and children Anna , Colleen and Stephen announced the creation of the Foundation was a rare public appearance by Gainey to discuss two tragic losses. It provided an interesting window into the thinking of Bob Gainey and his family in a time of stress.

Describing what they did last December after hearing that Laura Gainey had been swept overboard a ship in the Atlantic, Gainey provided this insight:

"On the phone, I had been given the information that she had 48 or 72 hours available to her because of the temperature of the water," Gainey said. "So there was a window of time. What you grab is ... you grab like we did with Cathy ... you grab what hope there is and you blow it up and you expand it".

"You keep it alive and you work all the angles, and by the end of the day we had a room here full of people with computers and cellphones and ... just keeping in touch with all the information."

For info on the foundation: http://www.gaineyfoundation.com, or send your queries to the following address: The Gainey Foundation, c/o Rideau Postal Outlet PO Box 53078, Ottawa, Ont., K1N 1C5.

See Red Fisher's complete column at:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=95cb6094-1cb6-4675-81cd-96679e63276d