When I moved back to Minnesota 8 years ago there are two things I quickly did to make MN feel like home again, things that brought me great joy during my time on the East Coast that I was hoping to replicate back in the Midwest. So, in the summer of 2010 I joined an adult women’s lacrosse team (Go Mighty Ducks!) and in the Spring of 2011 I started coaching a youth lacrosse team (Go Park!). Now, 8 years later, these two groups of wonderful women have become my 2nd and 3rd families. So, it should be no surprise that when they found out about my diagnosis, these two groups rallied in their own magical, unique ways to support me.
A little background on the youth lacrosse team I coach – each spring, my friend Mac and I take to the field along with 20-30 5th & 6th grade young women from the suburbs of St Louis Park and Hopkins for a season of lacrosse that starts in April in the snow, and ends in June in the sweltering heat (isn’t Minnesota weather grand?) 5th & 6th grade is Mac & my coaching sweet spot. They are articulate, humorous, intelligent young women – who still have their youthful exuberance and craziness about them. We have a season of fun playing lacrosse and more importantly learning life skills like communication, leadership, situational awareness, teamwork, democracy and the art of telling a good joke. Every season we let the team pick their own mascot (through a very democratic process with a touch of dictatorship when a suggested name gets a coach veto). Every season the team names get more ridiculous. 2016 was the Turnips, 2017 was the Goats, and this past season we were the Spicy Narwals.
So, the amazing Spicy Narwals decided to put a team together to for the 5K run as part of the ACS Making Strides against Breast Cancer event at the end of the October. They rallied their teammates to join, and worked to raise over $3,000 for the cause. They had special shirts made just for the team, and showed up bright and early on race day in their finest pink tutus and headbands ready to run (for those of you unfamiliar with 12 year old girls, it was a miracle just to see them at 7AM on a blustery, foggy October day – they are NOT morning people). And then they managed to race like hell in the 5K, taking 2 of the top 3 medals in their age bracket (I even think one of them took 3rd place overall!)
If you were one of the many people who donated to the team, thank you! And below, you can see the “Thank You” circle they formed on the 40 yard line of USBank stadium to sign all of the cards to thank the donors.
My adult lacrosse family decided to show their support in a slightly different (and no less wonderful) way. I’ve been playing lacrosse with some of these women for almost 20 years. We share an affinity for the Mighty Ducks movie trilogy (hence the team name), dressing in theme costumes, celebrating wins (and losses) with pitchers of beers and tater tots at our team sponsor (Gabe’s by the Park). These women put up with my sing-alongs and sound effects on the defensive end of the field, and have witnessed me at my worst (the ball to the face in 2010, the torn ACL in 2010, the broken foot in 2018 and a whole bunch of other not so precious moments in between).
So, on a cold, snowy Sunday last month, my teammates made a surprise appearance at Vikings Tailgating (a Gavzy family tradition since 1998) to show their support. And after distracting me for a few minutes, they put on their “Ducks Fly Together” t-shirts (you know its a sports team thing when custom t-shirts are involved) and gave a rousing “quack, quack, quack” cheer to show their support. Its hard to explain how perfect this show of support was if you don’t know my team, but it was pretty incredible. Plus it was capped off by one of the funniest moments of the month when the snow-covered tailgate tent was being folded up and all of the ice that had collected on the tent managed to spill right onto Chelsea’s head, drenching her in a baby-avalanche that managed to give her ear a very deep cleaning (I swear I’m not laughing AT you, Chi-chi, I’m laughing WITH you).
Unfortunately, having cancer can make life pretty depressing
Fortunately, my lacrosse families have done an amazing job bringing moments of happiness into my life during this dark time
Fortunately Unfortunately 