COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. – The Minnesota hockey community and teams across the nation are rallying around a 15-year-old Cottage Grove hockey player, who recently learned his rare immune deficiency disease is terminal.

The diagnosis has never slowed him down, even as it attacks his body’s major organs. Two hours after being released from a long stay at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of St. Paul, Josh Karels hits the ice to practice with his Bantam A team.

“Other coaches will come up to us and say No. 16, that’s Josh. He’s outworking our healthiest players. He has got 40 percent of his lung and is outworking everybody out there, even some of us coaches in practice,” said Xander Schmidtz, one of the Cottage Grove Bantam A coaches.

Karels just shrugs and assumes the persona that’s become his nickname, “Joshie Hockey,” given to him by teammates who notice the fierce transformation when Karels gets into his hockey gear.

“Hockey, it helps me get out of the hospital bed, just knowing, I have a game, I have to fight through it so I can go to the game and play. When I am on the ice, I don’t hurt anymore. It all goes away,” said Karels. “I don’t know, I always thought, why would you be down on yourself? There are people who have it worse than you. I have a great family.”

His parents, Katie and Andy Karels, and three younger siblings have never seen him face life any other way, since the diagnosis of the immune disorder at age 5. The condition is so rare, it doesn’t have a name.

“We were told that a simple sneeze could potentially kill our little boy, think of the boy in the bubble,” said Katie Karels.  “It hasn’t been an easy road, but he’s still here, and we will never give up. I think by far hockey is what keeps him going, it was has kept him alive this long. Guarantee it.”

Much of Karels’ childhood was spent in the hospital, with more than twenty surgeries and endless complications as his inflammatory system attacks his own body. He first battled Crohn’s disease with damage to his intestines, and then illness morphed into a multi-system auto immune disease, scarring his lungs and taking much of his breathing capacity. 

He spent much of this past December in the hospital, where the family soon learned devastating news, they could only share with the hockey community with a heartfelt letter. Katie Karels titled it, “What is Hockey?” 

“The day before Christmas Eve, the long awaited pathology reports were back. Josh’s liver is significantly destroyed and our time is limited with our incredible son. On top of that his pancreas and duct system are destroyed, too. We started medications and treatments to slow down the disease and get as much time as we possibly can with him. So what is hockey to our family … well, it is family. It is a community, it is support, it’s a therapy like no other, it’s a reason for fighting, and a reason for love,” she wrote.

Those very words, posted to the Let’s Play Hockey website, circulated the country, sparking visits from Minnesota Wild players. Kelly Paradise Brooks, the daughter of Herb Brooks even reached out, giving Josh the opportunity to wear her father’s 1980 Olympic gold medal.

“The hugs and love and care from complete strangers. I have never seen anything like it. I never could have dreamed that we could be touched like this. And it sure makes a family feel really good on our darkest days,” said Katie Karels. “We are walking through hell, but we get to see heaven like nobody else does and that is the biggest gift we could ever ask for.”

Josh Karels’ GoFundMe page has raised more than $50,000 to go towards his medical bills, with donations pouring in from players across the nation. 

The Karels family is also saving money to pursue potential treatment and a second opinion with medical experts in Boston. Meanwhile, Josh Karels copes with increasing pain and hospital stays, all while still playing in his first hockey playoff game this week.

This commitment has deeply touched his hockey coaches, two of whom even went and got “Joshie Hockey” tattoos for the player who has inspired them to be better.

“We got these tattoos for him, a little something to remember him for the rest of our life, something you can wake up to and say, you know what? I am going to go out and hammer this day just because of this kid,” said Brandon Schuman.

“It makes you think if a 15-year-old boy can have such a big heart and care about everyone else, why can’t we? Why can’t everyone?” said Alex Chuhel.

Karels tapes a cross to his helmet, and never takes off his cross necklace, which he prays with before every game. A player of conviction has found his answer in spite of a mystery disease.

“It is the high school team raising over $1,000 for our GoFundMe account. It is nurses doing favors for us by breaking the visitor limits and having an entire varsity and JV team visiting my son. It is our rival city of Woodbury, sending us a card and donation for Josh’s incredible medical expenses,” writes his mom. “It is young men learning the true definition of a teammate, a friend, a brother. It is amazing young coaches who are molding our son and his team to be better, do better, and cherish the ‘small’ things, like this game. It is a game, a sport, and it is so much more.”

For the hockey community, it’s impossible to focus on a terminal diagnosis when Josh Karels gives the sport a never-ending love. Just 15 years old, and already mastering the goal of a lifetime.

“The only one who knows when his time is done is God,” said Katie Karels, “and until that day, we are going to live, we are going to smile, we are going to play hockey, and have fun.”