Monday, January 31, 2011

Despite Plight, Mandi Schwartz Inspires

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SEATTLE -- They think of the homemade cookies, the plate of yummy goodness she brought to their locker room not so long ago. Mandi Schwartz was all bundled up then, wearing triple thick layers and a mighty scarf but still shivering quite a bit. Her immune system, weakened by a recent bone marrow transplant and countless rounds of chemotherapy, probably shouldn't have been subjected to a cold and drafty ice rink, but that is Mandi.

She is a hockey player, and true hockey players, the ones weaned on wake-up calls before sunrise and long drives to games and aching, bruised shins, well, those sort of hockey players just can't stay away.

"That day was pretty amazing. We were like, 'Oh, these are amazing cookies,' and she was like, 'Oh, I'll give you the recipe,'" says Maddie Davis, a 13-year-old forward for Western Washington Female Hockey Association Phoenix, an all-girls team that plays predominantly against boys-only teams. "It was so awesome that she came to our bench and helped coach. When we found out her leukemia had returned, we were all bumming."

Emilie de Ravin Tara Reed Avril Lavigne Bridget Moynahan Noureen DeWulf

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