Kylie's Kids: Meet Maddie
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A healthy, high school senior with plans to play softball in college is not who you would expect to get a cancer diagnosis.
There were no symptoms, Maddie was at the top of her game. That is why it was so surprising when Maddie found out she had Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"I've been playing since I was 5 years old," Maddie said. "I like the intensity of it. And I'm a pitcher so I like having control of the game."
Maddie is team captain this year, and heading to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to keep playing this fall. She lives and breathes softball.
But a regular doctor's visit in March nearly threw a curve ball at Maddie's plans. After a blood test didn't look right, doctors decided to look a little further. Even though she felt fine, Maddie had Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"I didn't really know what to think," she said of her diagnosis. "My biggest concern was I didn't think I was going to be able to play this year, which would've been really hard because it's my senior year. I was named captain too, so I didn't want to let my team down."
Doctors said to keep playing, though, and that the game might even prove helpful. So that's what Maddie did, even pitching some games just hours after chemotherapy. In fact, the day WCCO talked to her as she was getting chemo, she pitched a winning game.
"I thought it was going to be harder on my body," she said.
The only real difference in her games this year -- all the players were wearing purple ribbons for Maddie.
Maddie still has to have chemo for a few more months, but still plans on playing softball in the fall.