Daniel Mooney Raises $25k

Pennsylvania – Pine Richland Rams

I’m excited being doing October Saves again this year! As some of you know, I am a leukemia survivor. I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at 19 months old and went through chemotherapy and radiation for 3 and 1/3 years. Because of cancer research and the great doctors at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, I am one of the lucky ones. Some of the kids we met at the hospital were not so lucky. I want to do everything I can to raise money for cancer research so that more people can beat this awful disease.

I’ve loved hockey since I was a little kid, but I couldn’t skate for the longest time. Because of my cancer treatment, I didn’t spend a lot of time running, swimming, and playing with other kids. Instead, I was at the hospital. One of the medicines I took was vincristine, a drug that affects the nerves and muscles in your body. Vincristine’s side effects include difficulty walking and loss of coordination and balance. The medicine made my legs weak and it was hard for me to bike, swim, and run with other kids. Because I had leukemia cells in my spinal fluid and around my brain, I also needed radiation to my brain. At the time, the doctors were not sure exactly how the radiation would affect me in school and in the future. But I needed it to save my life. So I spent the next three years getting shots and spinal taps and taking chemotherapy and getting my brain radiated.

While I was finishing up my cancer treatment, I started playing driveway hockey with my older brother. Because I couldn’t run very well, I stood in the net and he shot pucks at me. Pretty soon, other neighborhood kids joined our game. Stopping the puck and being the guy in the net soon became a part of me. I wanted to play more than just driveway hockey. I wanted to play on a team. There was one problem though. The chemotherapy I received to fight my cancer impacted my ability to skate. When my parents took me ice skating, I couldn’t keep my balance on skates and I got more and more frustrated. I was tired of falling and hated having people laugh at me.

But I knew that if I wanted to play on a hockey team, I had to learn how to skate. I made up my mind that I was going to do it, no matter how hard it seemed. Even though it wasn’t pretty, I never gave up on my goal. I fell a lot, but I picked myself up and kept trying. One day, after falling several times, I gathered all of my might and poured everything I had into one last attempt. I can vividly remember how my feet touched the ice and glided forward. I was a little wobbly but I didn’t fall. I was skating by myself! My mom was skating with my brother on the rink and she caught up to me and hugged me to celebrate.

That day on the ice and my determination to learn how to skate were the first steps in my journey to overcome the effects of cancer and become a hockey player. As my legs got stronger and my balance improved, I kept working on my skating and skills in the net. Today, I am the varsity goalie for Pine-Richland’s ice and inline hockey teams. Even more importantly, I have turned my love of hockey into a way to give back to cancer research.

This organization’s mission is very important to me and I’m proud to help them make a difference. Please support me by giving to my page. Every dollar counts! Thank you.