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The Inspiring Story Behind the Girl From Sunday’s Ceremonial Faceoff With Alex Ovechkin

By Ian Oland

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October 28, 2014 10:19 am

brooke-malakoff-ceremonial-faceoff-ovechkin-sedin

Photo: Jeff Vinnick

The Vancouver Canucks hosted their Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Sunday at Rogers Arena. The Canucks wore purple and lavender jerseys during warm-ups (the color represents all forms of cancer), which they auctioned off during the game. They also had a special guest for the ceremonial faceoff between captains Henrik Sedin and Alex Ovechkin.

So special, I thought I’d tell you more about her.

Brooke Malakoff is a beautiful young woman from Fernie, British Columbia. On December 19, 2011, Malakoff got an early Christmas present that no teenager should ever have to receive. After going to the doctor to get treated for what she thought was pneumonia, doctors found a mass three quarters the size of her left lung. Doctors told her it was benign, but when her family returned home for Christmas, she fell ill that night.

During a doctor’s visit the next day, she was informed the tumor had burst. She had to be airlifted to Vancouver on the 27th for life-saving surgery. Her cancerous left lung was removed entirely and she was diagnosed with congenital infantile fibrosarcoma, a rare tumor that’s normally found in infants.

After six weeks on the mend in near isolation, Malakoff– who lost all of her blonde hair– was given a clean bill of health. That’s not where the story ends.

Three-and-a-half-months later, Malakoff underwent a routine scan. The cancer had returned and spread throughout her body.

Brooke Malakoff holds up a signed Canucks shirt in 2012. (Photo: Vancouver Canucks)

Brooke Malakoff holds up a signed Canucks shirt in 2012. (Photo: Vancouver Canucks)

Because Malakoff’s type of cancer was so unique, the tumors proved impossible to remove or radiate. Just like in hockey, the gloves had been dropped. Malakoff had to find the courage to fight cancer every day just to stay alive.

At first, Malakoff stayed at a Ronald McDonald House for months, living PET scan to PET scan. According to a story by the Canucks in 2012, her schedule was fairly consistent. She would receive chemo treatment in a hospital for four to six days, then be housebound for up to two weeks because her blood cell counts would drop. Once they rose, Brooke could explore Vancouver for five or six days. Then the process would begin anew.

Doctors tried conventional and unconventional therapies to try and rid Malakoff’s body of cancer. After several years of unsuccessful treatment, doctors at British Columbia Children’s Hospital had her try a new type of oral chemotherapy in early 2014. Finally: progress. The tumors slowly began to shrink.

Malakoff documented her progress in a personal blog called The blog of a teenage cancer fighter.

cancer-lungs

She writes, in a article published in May:

The picture on the right is the January 2014 scan. It was after I was really sick for a month and basically didn’t have chemo. The picture on the left is the April 2014 scan, and wow! What improvement! All the black spots in the chest area is cancer, don’t worry about the two big black spots at the top and bottom of the scan. It’s just my brain and my bladder!! The focus of the pictures is to see what’s hanging out on the left side of my chest, which appears on the right side of the picture. I mean wow! What improvement!!

Since then, nothing can stop Malakoff. She’s graduated from high school and has been taking university classes online. In late May, she co-hosted the BC Children Hospital’s miracle weekend telethon and shared her story.

For all these reasons, the Canucks chose Malakoff to participate in the ceremonial face-off with Ovechkin and Sedin on Sunday. She is kicking cancer’s ass. She is surviving something that doctors did not believe should could survive. She is an inspiration.

“You may have some downs in your life, but if you never knew what sad was like, then you wouldn’t know what happy was,” Malakoff said in an interview with the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. “My favorite quote is, ‘Everything’s going to be okay in the end, but it’s not okay, it’s not the end.’ So it’s not the end for me.”

Brooke Malakoff’s Tweets From Hockey Fights Cancer Night

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