Hockey Fights Cancer: Madison Bizal
There’s who you w to see there’s my nice baby he misses you I’m gonna get ready soon so love you too bye such an honor to be able to be driving to this game right now I think she realizes that she could Inspire somebody this is about Madison bazal is going to
Show you that you can do anything in this world even when you get knocked down [Music] I have a twin brother named Connor and we grew up playing hockey together loved it right away Maddie was very shy and she would go on that ice and her shyness went away she was
Out there having fun her ability to play hockey really stemmed from skating and she could skate very very well did she foresee that it was going to be a professional team eventually no but she was going to do whatever it was going to take to get division one I visited Ohio State
And immediately fell in love with it she was grinning the whole visit and I’m thinking oh no far away from home I’m not sure if I’m into this and she didn’t want to go visit any other schools from the beginning Sophie Jakes Gabby Rosenthal pton Lis and I collect we went in the
Summer before freshman year and we were like the workouts were so hard we were just like are we going to make make it we always laugh about that cuz we’re like in hindsight that was such a small
Part of our journey a lot of great things um not so great things my sophomore year I had felt a lymph know on the side of my neck then we got sent home for Co started watching it more and
Then I went to the doctor at school they said we need to remove it I got a phone call and that was the worst the worst phone call I’ve ever had in my life the worst moment of my [Music] life my
Diagnosis is nodular lymphocytic hodkin lymphoma all black cancers rise from the bone marrow the differ with some of part of these cells which are lymphocytes they are born in the bone marrow and then they go to different parts of the body a lymphoma is basically a growth of one of those
Lymphocytes it was very very like shocking to me and scary to me and then immediately called my parents it was November of 2020 get the phone call and Maddie is hysterical and she said
I have cancer and I think I was in shock cuz I said no you don’t they don’t just call you over the phone and tell you have cancer and then she started screaming and said I have cancer it was Unreal we just want to get out there and hug our daughter being 12
Hours away you know you just can’t jump in the car and be there in the moment thankfully you know naen called her and said I’ll be over in 5 minutes to pick you up it was an emotional day coaches prior to me had recruited her but when you’re recruiting
Kids you look parents in the eye and you tell them that you’re going to take care of their baby girl like they’re one of your own I just remember like when she told us that I was just like heartbroken like what do you do you know when your best friend tells you
That my dad was able to come to the first two appointments with diagnosis and then treatment plan my mom was also there but couldn’t come into the hospital with me because of Co for the rest of the journey they were from afar supporting me in any way they could but
Because of the co restrictions that were in place my teammates and staff at Ohio State was my biggest support system when something happens such as one of your players having cancer how do we come together we obviously had a number of treatment options kind of presented
Um working with the oncologist the route we went was infusion treatments after my first treatments when I woke up from like my nap I felt so sick and Payton came and brought me a cookie into my bedroom and that like is like so small but like meant so much to
Me that she was checking on me during that time I didn’t want to be like a burden to anyone her ultimate goal is I want to get this treated but I want to keep playing I want to be a
Member of this team and and be an Elite member of this team on Tuesdays I would have my treatments so I would miss practice on Tuesday I would be at practice the next day uh ready to go prepare
For the weekend of games that were coming up never missed a 172 games during those treatments it’s just incredible she elevated everybody else’s game because you didn’t have the right to complain about anything when bazal was going through what she was going through our class was really special
Because we hadn’t even made the tournament our a freshman year and then sophomore year Co canceled the tournament and then junior year we had a look at the tournament but lost in the semi-finals so I
Think senior year it was kind of like everything had built up to this moment so happy that I was was able to raise a national championship trophy treatment it was once every 2 months at that point
So it was less of a constant in my mind it was the craziest best moment of my life my last treatment was in July then I got all clear in September that I was done with treatments it was almost
A three-year Journey at that point going through this cancer scare two things saved Madison hocky and East God my most sweet precious angel baby I love him so much and FaceTime him every day the
Type of cancer she has it never goes away once you maintain it it’s kind of like being a diabetic if you can maintain it you’ll totally be just fine we have done tremendous advances in cancer across all
Tumors the fight will only be over we can cure all of them or at least we can transform cancer less of a cause of death and more of a chronic disease when I was ringing the bell the pwhl draft was
Happening in the next few weeks to get drafted and play for Montreal special it just goes to show when you you know perseverance and hard work and dedication and all those other characteristics that she displayed over that period of time deep deep got her ready for that opportunity at the
Next step oh yeah I just remember thinking gosh to get to play professional you could only have dreamed of this a girl a boy B there’s so much to take away from bz makes you grow up really
Fast I think that every day is a blessing every moment is an opportunity for something great take that when you have the chance to you have a 21-year-old young woman living away from home dealing with cancer during Co nonetheless so a lot of these appointments we couldn’t even
Go with her too she’s the toughest athlete I have ever come across pretty wild to think back about everything that has happened the setback is not going to stop me from continuing to pursue my dreams
See this special Hockey Fights Cancer feature on PWHL Montreal’s Madison Bizal, who discusses her journey at Ohio State along with her family and friends after learning she has Hodgkin’s lymphoma.