In a month that has seen the college hockey world dealt story after story of tragic news, word out of Wayne State University will not brighten the day. According to a report in the South End, the Wayne State student newspaper, goaltender Marc Carlson has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and will miss the entire 2001-2002 season.
Carlson, a native of Hingham, Mass., was diagnosed with the disease after finding a lump in his abdominal region. Further tests proved the lump to be a malignant tumor, forcing it to be removed. But CAT scans after the removal showed the cancer had spread throughout the lower half of the 21-year-old’s body.
This is the third story in weeks regarding cancer in the college hockey community. Maine coach Shawn Walsh lost his battle on Monday with renal cell carcinoma, a rare form of the disease, succumbing 16 months after diagnosis. Earlier in the month, Merrimack coach Chris Serino was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Carlson has begun treatment for the cancer, which doctors tell him has a specific regiment of treatment that has proved highly effective. Carlson is currently in the process of receiving a nine-week chemotherapy treatment.
“During chemo, they give me anti-nausea drugs so I can still eat,” Carlson said. “So far I am handling the treatment well and I feel pretty normal.
“Chemo takes a cumulative effect on the body. I may start to get sick. I am also probably going to lose my hair, but that’s all right. It’ll grow back eventually.”
Carlson is currently in his third week of treatment for the cancer and believes his body is responding well.
“I think some of it may be luck, but I truly believe that I’m reacting so well to it because I’m an athlete and by body is in such great shape,” he said.
He hopes to return to campus for classes by January of 2002. He will take a medical redshirt for the upcoming season, retaining a full-year of athletic eligibility.
The college hockey world has been rocked by disaster this month. In addition to the loss of Maine’s Walsh, former Boston University standout Mark Bavis was killed on United flight 175 when his plane was hijacked as part of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
