In 1999, Molly McMaster was diagnosed with
colon cancer. At 23, she was a passionate amateur hockey player, a sport she calls the best in the world. At the time
of her cancer diagnosis, she thought she might not be able to play hockey again. McMaster was in training for a tryout
with the women's AAA team in Canada. But with the cancer diagnosis, she thought she was done, that cancer would be the
end of her. McMaster has continued in her passion to play hockey, but after the colon cancer diagnosis, she has been equally as passionate at raising awareness for a disease that can strike anyone, at any age. Her awareness campaigns are original and unique. In 2000, she spent 71 days on inline skates, making the trek from Glens Falls, New York to Greeley, Colorado. Called Rolling To Recovery, she raised $60,000 dollars. In 2002, she created the nationally-known CoCo the Colossal Colon, a crawl-through model of the human colon. In 2003, she co-founded The Colon Club. In 2005, she published the first ColondarSM, an annual calendar of young colorectal cancer survivors.
During March, as part of The UHL Cross-Checks Colon Cancer campaign, McMaster will play with every team in the United Hockey League. McMaster has been cancer-free for seven years, and will no doubt continue to raise awareness and funds for colon cancer in imaginative creative ways for a disease no one wants to talk about. McMaster is out to change all that.
1. While it's heartbreaking that Molly was diagnosed with colon cancer at such a young age, it is important to remember that age 50 and older is when the risk for colon cancer increases significantly. The American Cancer Society's "Fabulous at 50" reminds everyone that age to get checked for colon cancer. It also shows clips of polyps being removed (www.cancer.org/colonfab50)
Posted at 9:23PM on Mar 6th 2006 by Katarina