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Rick went on to win multiple gold medals in cross-country skiing at the Special Olympics World Winter Games, which speaks to the Francis bloodline. But Francis never forgot what it was like for his family to travel across Canada seeking help for him.

"A lot of times when there's an illness to a child like that, obviously it turns the family's lifestyle upside down," Francis says. "Parents with jobs and siblings with schoolwork, it's very tough and taxing on the family. To be able to reward the family because of the patient was an idea I really liked."

'Just the real deal'

He started the night-out program when he was with the Penguins. When he came to North Carolina, he quickly built a relationship with Duke.

Ken Baroff, executive director of planning and development at Duke Children's Hospital, has a long relationship with Francis.

"There's a big difference between certain kinds of people who do that because that's what the organization is doing and then there's a whole different kind of person, like Ron," Baroff says. "His reputation preceded him, but he's just the real deal."

When he retired, Francis let go of his suite, and the night-out program came to an end. (Since becoming assistant general manager in October, he has considered restarting that program.)

Some Hurricanes have followed in Francis' footsteps from time to time, while others have their own charitable efforts. Cam Ward raises money for Special Olympics. Erik Cole and Eric Staal donate a suite to the team's charitable foundation. But the magnitude of Francis' contributions endures.

The story of Emma

In 2003, 8-year-old Emma Bozarth arrived at Duke from Macomb, Ill., suffering from common variable immunodeficiency -- "in layman's terms, bubble-boy syndrome," her mother, Jill Jones, says -- and requiring a stem-cell transplant.

Her stepfather, who sells the industrial sewing machines the Hurricanes use, reached out to the team for help. Francis answered. He helped get the family into Durham's Ronald McDonald House and gave them tickets to games.

"We were all scared out of our shorts," Jill Jones says. "He made an awful experience into a pretty good one, if you can say that."

Today, Emma is back in Macomb, still requiring weekly doses of the experimental medicine Duke used to avoid a transplant but otherwise happy and healthy.

When she wrote a book about her experience, Francis wrote the foreword. (Her second book, "The ABCs of Kids Like Me," is available at www.immunedisease.com.)

"It's kind of cool that there are people like Ron Francis," Jones says. "I didn't know the man from Adam, but if you said, 'That girl Emma is so grateful,' he'd remember her. He definitely takes time to give back to people."

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