{"id":259608,"date":"2025-10-22T11:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/259608\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:35:20","slug":"oilers-anthem-singer-diagnosed-with-leukemia-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/259608\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers\u2019 anthem singer diagnosed with leukemia – Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

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EDMONTON \u2013 The Edmonton Oilers\u2019 anthem singer who became a fan favourite for belting out O Canada in the stands with fans says he\u2019s staying optimistic after he was diagnosed with leukemia.<\/p>\n

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Robert Clark shared the news Sunday in a video posted online, saying he\u2019ll be going through treatment beginning next month and hopes not to miss too many games.<\/p>\n

Clark said he was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia, which he describes as treatable and sounding \u201cworse than it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to be told they have cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cNot fun, but I\u2019m very optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Cancer Society says hairy cell leukemia is a relatively rare form of cancer that affects white blood cells, a key part of the immune system that helps fight off infections.<\/p>\n

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Clark said he began having joint pain in August, and his diagnosis came after a series of tests, which included a bone marrow biopsy.<\/p>\n

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He said the cancer has caused his spleen to swell on top of regular bouts of fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also leads to a very weakened immune system, so I don\u2019t go out much just to avoid getting anything if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The professional opera singer gained prominence nearly a decade ago when he started singing O Canada and the U.S. anthem while standing in the crowd rather than on the ice during the team\u2019s 2017 playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tradition Clark has continued through the Oilers\u2019 playoff runs since, including the back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup final these past two seasons.<\/p>\n

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Fans were quick to share words of encouragement for Clark online, as was the team, which wrote, \u201cYou got this, Robert!\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer said it\u2019s possible he might miss a few of the team\u2019s games while he goes through treatment, but he said the worst of it will happen during a long road trip for the Oilers in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first week is going to suck, and then it get just gets better and better,\u201d he said of the treatment.<\/p>\n

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Clark didn\u2019t immediately respond to an interview request.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size EDMONTON \u2013 The Edmonton Oilers\u2019 anthem singer who became a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2794,146,1928,4643,5,4,40019,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-259608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-prairies","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115417614196194490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}