Anderson speaks out about cancer
When Nicholle Anderson was diagnosed with cancer, her teaching background kicked in.
“I just wanted to educate people,” she said. “That’s the teacher in me, so I was never shy to open up about it.”
The wife of Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson began blogging about it not long after being diagnosed last fall with latestage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Nicholle is now cancer-free and after serving as an inspiration to Craig and the Senators last season, she wants to share her experience with others as the NHL and NHL Players’ Association’s latest Hockey Fights Cancer ambassador.
“What it’s done to my life in the last year, if I can take this opportunity and educate everybody about it, I’m going to do it,” Nicholle said. “It’s going to be a little emotional for me, too. I understand that. But the next few weeks I feel like I’m doing good.”
Nicholle and 10-year-old cancer patient Ryan Mercer will drop the puck Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre as the Senators take on the Vegas Golden Knights. Nicholle met Mercer last year. As her husband noted, Nicholle doesn’t crave the limelight. But after starting cancer treatments and meeting patients afraid to talk about it, she immediately wanted to speak out on the subject.
Nicholle wants people to know she contracted nasopharyngeal carcinoma from the virus that causes mono, that only seven in a million people get it and that people who feel something is off in their bodies should get it checked out.
She also wants people to know that even though she beat cancer over a span of seven months and several radiation and chemotherapy treatments, it’s “brutal” and has an impact on a lot of people.
“I got it, maybe a friend of mine will have it, a family member will have it,” Nicholle said. “Cancer’s reality. I feel like we all need to be proactive here and raise money not just for research but to help everybody because in the long run, everybody’s getting cancer, so it affects everybody.”