Jordin Tootoo's Life

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity” (Albert Einstein). Jordin Tootoo is recognized nationwide as an idol due to his perseverance through all of the of the horrible and difficult circumstances that he was faced with. Tootoo’s challenges are a great example of the quote by Albert Einstein, this is because he continues to find the opportunity in difficult situations that he is faced with. When his brother tragically passed, Jordin was thrown into a traumatizing situation that largely affected his life. Due to his brother’s passing, Tootoo started abusing alcohol, which ultimately led him through a dark path which he overcame by participating in the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program. During Jordin’s life, it was clear

Terence Tootoo was twenty-two years old when he commited suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Only three years younger at the time was his brother Jordin Tootoo, who suffered tremendously because of this incident; the death of Terence was one of the main reason why Jordin began to abuse alcohol to an extreme level. Jordin explains the support Terrence had for him saying, “Terence always told me that he wanted me to do what I loved… I wanted to stick to our goal. We loved playing hockey” (Jordin 106). Terence always wanted Jordin to be happy, and that is why Jordin dedicated his first NHL hockey season to his brother Terence and stenciled his brother’s name on his hockey sticks while playing the sport for the entire year (to be happy for his brother). Although Terence’s death took a toll on Jordin, his death was the reason why Jordin established the “Team Tootoo Fund” in 2011. The “Team Tootoo Fund” is meant to support non-profit organizations that help children and teenagers in need and address issues such as suicide awareness and prevention. Jordin’s brave decision where he chose to open up and help other people that might be going through the same situation or may be facing the same challenges was very inspiring and set a great example not only for Indigenous people but for non-Indigenous people as

His abuse of alcohol was blocking him from discovering who he truly is. The first step that Jordin took in the direction to find who he truly is was when he volunteered in the NHL substance abuse behavioral health program. As Jordin said, “The support I’ve gotten from my teammates, my family, the fans of Nashville, it has been unbelievable, without their support I probably couldn’t have done it.” (Jordin 161). Without the encouragement of the people who cared about Jordin, he would not have been able to come this far in finding who he truly is. Jordin was inspired by everyone who helped him to start helping others, he tried to achieve this by creating the “Team Tootoo Fund”, becoming the first Inuk to play in the NHL, and by continuing to play hockey after his brother’s death, which was inspiring to many. Even though Jordin still has not found who he truly is as he said “To this day, I’m still working on myself. We all have our own ways of dealing with things… but now I’m open and I’m not so afraid to talk.” (Jordin 160), this action that Jordin decided to do, which talks about what happened during his life inspired many. Even though his way of dealing with things was ingesting alcohol, he overcame that obstacle and found the opportunity to share his story with others that could be going through the same