Eric Sawchuk threw himself into everything he cared about.

So when his wife fell gravely ill with an aggressive form of cancer that recurred repeatedly over the past seven years, he was the supportive husband and father his family turned to for reassurance.

Sawchuk, the 41-year-old host of the one-man cable show "Hawaii Sportsman TV," died Sunday after he fell off a cliff in the Wai'anae Mountains while hunting.

"I couldn't have asked for a better husband," said Theresa Sawchuk. "I didn't think that I was going to be raising my children alone. I always thought it was going to be the other way around."

Hunters will best remember Sawchuk as producer and host of "Hawaii Sportsman TV," which he did basically on his own. Some shows focused on his own hunts while others centered on the adventures of those who invited him along.

Brad Biroan, his brother-in-law and one of Sawchuk's hunting buddies, said he and others jokingly referred to him as the Steve Irwin of Hawai'i. Irwin, the Australian famous for "The Crocodile Hunter" TV series, died in 2006 when his chest was pierced by the barb of a stingray.

"You got people who love the sport and that's it," Biroan said. "But then there are some that go beyond. (Sawchuk) liked to pass the knowledge and spread the passion."

Sawchuk also tried to dispel some negative stereotypes by explaining that hunters could, and should, be respectful, he said. "It's about taking care of the land and respecting everything," Biroan said.

Like Irwin, Sawchuk took risks, Biroan said.

"I guess that's what happened to him," Biroan said. "He pushed his luck. He loved it so much."

Police believe Sawchuk was bow-hunting for wild goats in the mountains Sunday when he slipped on loose rocks, lost his footing and fell 100 feet, landing on a ledge above Ke'eau Homestead Road. The friend with whom Sawchuk was hunting climbed down to his location but was unable to revive him.

Orlando Oxiles, hunter education program coordinator for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said he has hunted in that same area and knows it to be one of the most challenging for Hawai'i hunters.

"It's very steep ... and the rocks we have in Hawai'i tend to be very porous so if you step on them, they may crack, break or come loose."

Oxiles, who knows of Sawchuk from his show but never met him, said of the trail: "It's physically demanding and very treacherous."

THE HOCKEY FANATIC

Theresa Sawchuk said she and her husband spent part of their wedding night watching a Chicago Blackhawks playoff game. Not that she minded, she said. It was one of his passions.

So it was inevitable that when Kino Sawchuk got into inline hockey as a 7-year-old, Eric Sawchuk would be a coach. Daughter Sissy, who turned 7 yesterday, also got into the sport.

Richard Pentecost, president of the Oahu Inline Hockey League, said he will always remember Sawchuk's booming voice, which was distinctive not only because of its timbre but because it always spoke to the kids in a positive manner.

The youths in the Mites Division, for those 8 and under, "were very impressed with that and they would follow his directions very well," Pentecost said. "You could hear his voice from two miles away from the rink, but he was loud in a positive way."

"Whatever Eric enjoyed, he was so passionate about," said Laurie Apiki, Windward representative for the league.

Apiki said Sawchuk would cheer for everyone, even players on opposing teams.

"He was driven by the kids; he knew every single one of them by name," she said.

Theresa Sawchuk said her husband just felt deeply for people.

"He'd cry if somebody fell down on the football field," she said. "That's just the kind of person he was. He literally would cry."

SUPPORT SYSTEM

Theresa and Eric Sawchuk met and fell in love as fellow nurses at The Queen's Medical Center. Theresa Sawchuk, a Waialua girl, was with the Queen's surgical intensive care unit, while Ohio native Eric Sawchuk was a respiratory therapist and later an emergency room nurse.

"We thought the exact same way on just about everything," Theresa Sawchuk said. "We hardly disagreed. We just had the same train of thought on a lot of things."

When Sissy was 5 months old, Theresa was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, the most malignant of breast cancers. After dealing with that initial ordeal, which included a double mastectomy, Theresa began getting headaches a little more than a year ago.

"They found a big brain tumor, and spots on my liver, which turned out to be breast cancer," said Theresa, now 41. Since then, she's undergone two brain surgeries and additional surgery to remove the spots on her liver. She's continued with chemotherapy. The latest treatment was last week.

Jill Slade, nurse manager for Queen's surgical intensive care unit, said the couple worked hard together to keep a cheerful face through their recent ordeals.

"Theresa told me that ... if it wasn't for him, she could never have gone through all these treatments," Slade said. "Eric would put his family first. He was just that kind of person. He was her support system. Without his love, I don't know how she could have battled these illnesses as long as she has."

Eric's childlike demeanor made it an easy sell. "He never grew up. ... He wrestled them, he tickled them, he did all the daddy things," Theresa said.

"We were so focused on myself and trying to get myself better," Theresa said. "I certainly didn't expect this to happen. It's really devastating. I look at the kids and it's really hard. But I gotta stay strong, he wouldn't want it any other way."

A service for Eric Sawchuk will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Hawaiian Memorial Park. Besides his wife and two children, Sawchuk is survived by his parents, three brothers and a sister.