About Patrick and Mike

Patrick Rutayisire came to Nova Scotia from Kigali, Rwanda, a small land-locked country in East Africa. He was born in a small village in the south-western tip of Rwanda and moved to the capital Kigali after surviving the Genocide of 1994.

Patrick was a fighter from a very young age and could seize almost any opportunity set before him and this is how he went about life. He elevated others in his home village, often leading those younger or more vulnerable than him, and so many looked up to him and his example. It was hard to believe that someone like this could one day not be with us, and it is still hard to believe we could go on without him. 

There is a legacy he leaves with us, we laugh when we think of certain moments shared with him, shaking our heads at the foolishness and comedic timing he had. We feel proud to have known someone like him who knew so much about the sport of football, having studied players, with the ability to predict how they would behave, always speaking of the odds of something lucky happening to a team and probabilities of strengthening toward success. Patrick’s big voice carried across football pitch after football pitch cheering on his players with hope and he had hope for so many things and so many people, including his son Mike. 

Mike was born in Antigonish at St. Martha’s Hospital, 5 months after his father set foot on Canadian soil for the first time. It was a whole new world for him and his dad, and together they settled in to their home. Patrick was always a very hands on dad, never afraid to handle Mike as a newborn. He was in on the action of everything a parent had coming their way in the early months of having a new baby. He would be on the floor on a blanket with Mike ‘training’ his little wiggly legs through their ranges of motion, saying that he had to start young to be a football player (this was a joke, or was it?). Mike would sleep best with his Papa and be so cozy in his arms for hours, Patrick never tiring of holding him. He would speak almost exclusively in their native tongue of Kinyarwanda and when Mike was 2 they went to Rwanda together where Patrick proudly showed him off and quickly immersed him in the community and culture. This would repeat several times through the years, a journey home where Patrick would reintroduce Mike to the half of him that was proudly Rwandan. 

While Patrick was sick, he was not able to be the same father as he always was, hands on. It was a very big adjustment for Mike, and devastating for Patrick. He was most happy when he could find a burst of energy long enough to pass the ball back and forth to Mike. In the summer before his passing|, we would watch in astonishment when Patrick would somehow rise from his seat in the crowd, in such a state of weakness and pain post-chemotherapy treatment, walk out onto the field where Mike was playing Rec Soccer and start coaching him and the players, inserting himself among the Rec staff! He couldn’t stand to not be a part of it and it amazed us to no end. It may have been the best medicine for him at that time.

We will continue to feel the absence of Patrick, but he will never fail to be a presence in our lives. There are countless memories and moments for us to all remember how he impacted us, and we will smile with the very thought of him. Mike will continue on being that much more stronger and versatile of a human-being, having been born and exposed to the person that was and is his father, Patrick Rutayisire.