Blackhawks Captain Toews Reveals 'My Body Kind Of Broke Down'

CHICAGO — Six months after the Chicago Blackhawks announced that captain Jonathan Toews would miss time this season due to an unknown illness, Toews revealed Wednesday that his body “just fell apart” and wouldn’t recover and said his immune system reacted to stress due to a medical condition.

In a video posted to his Twitter feed Wednesday, the 33-year-old veteran is seen walking into the Blackhawks’ practice facility with his gear in hand. In the video, Toews — who remained silent about the condition that ultimately forced him to miss the entire season — said that doctors diagnosed him with chronic immune response syndrome.

The condition, he said, helped Toews realize that there is more to life than hockey.

In the video, Toews said that his immune system reacted to anything that he did that created stress, including daily activities. He cited everything he has put his body through over his NHL career, which ended up catching up with him, Toews said.

“I just think there were a lot of things that just piled up where my body just fell apart,” Toews said in the video.

When the team first announced Toews’ illness, it said that Toews often felt lethargic. In a statement from the captain released by the team, Toews said the condition did not allow him to play at the level he wanted and that he would remain away from the team while doctors worked to figure out what was happening.

In April, a NBC Sports Network report said that Toews' health was improving and that he was looking forward to returning to the ice next season.

Toews said in the two-minute video released Wednesday that he has not taken this much time off since he was a kid, “probably ever” and said that he appreciates the opportunity to return to Chicago. Without Toews in the lineup, the Hawks finished in sixth place in the Central Division and failed to make the playoffs and finished with a 24-25-7 record.

The former No. 3 overall pick said he looks forward to “slowly but surely” settling back into the life he has known throughout his 13-year career in Chicago, which includes Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Toews, whose only appearance was limited to a video message sent when teammate Patrick Kane played in his 1000th career game, said in the video released Wednesday that the toughest part was the amount of time it took him to work through the medical condition. He said that now that he is healthy, he looks forward to returning to rejoining the Blackhawks. The video posted Wednesday showed him on the ice with his teammates as the veteran works toward returning next season.

"That was the frustrating part, was not knowing when or how we were going to get over the hump,” Toews said in the video. “But thankfully got a great support team of people that helped me through it. I learned a lot about the stress that I put on my body over the years, and I appreciate all the support.”

He added: “A lot of people were worried and I definitely felt bad to a certain degree that people thought it was really serious. But in the back of my mind, I knew I would get through it. It was just a matter of time.”