Chicago Fire Goalie Kicks Cancer
(CBS) Chicago Fire goalie Matt Lampson was a trialist during the preseason, but he impressed so much he earned the starting job for nine games.
He's currently the backup and fighting to be the starter again. But that's nothing compared to what he's already been through and his fight to make a difference, CBS 2's Megan Mawicke reports.
"I don't want to be known as the cancer goalie," Lampson says.
He kicked cancer, but it doesn't define him. He was just 17 years old when he heard the shocking news: He had Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. It spread to his pancreas, lungs, and he had baseball-sized tumors in his stomach.
"I was lucky when we I caught it because if it went on any further who knows if I would be here?" Lampson said. "It was a tough time but it's good now and it's made me a much better person."
He endured six rounds of chemotherapy, then 12 rounds of radiation. Now he's eight years cancer-free.
"I was making light of it back in the day," he says. "It's not good if you're dwelling on the negative the whole time."
Now, Lampson is trying to bring awareness to blood cancer through his foundation called Lampstrong. Every game, home or away, he hosts a cancer survivor and their families. He calls them his Lampstrong Heroes.
"I'm almost like a physical embodiment of what they can they do … what they can do after they're done fighting for their life," he says.
Matt likes to shows his heroes his "tattoos" -- his scars -- as proof of what he's been through.
Through his foundation, he's trying to bring awareness to what he calls the forgotten age group.
"A lot of people think about childhood cancer and adult cancer, but they don't think about 14-year-olds to 22-year-olds," Lampson says.
Matt didn't realize the impact he was making, until his family pointed it out to him.
"When I started to find it, see it, it's incredibly humbling," he says. "Use your second chance at life to really make a difference."
Lampson has already raised more than $50,000. For more info, go to www.lampstrong.com.
