From the Ivy League to the Big Leagues

Cornell University's mascot is a Big Red Bear. For hockey warrior Gerald Murphy and current Colorado Avalanche defenseman Jacob MacDonald, it's a fitting representation of how they've gotten to where they are today.

MacDonald began his journey to the NHL after graduating from Cornell University after the 2014-15 season, latching on with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL, less than an hour up the road from his alma mater. MacDonald would spend parts of two seasons with the Jackals before bouncing back and forth between the American Hockey League over the next few years before finally signing with the Florida Panthers as a free agent in 2018.
The Avalanche would go on to trade for him in 2019 and a few years later.
Gerald Murphy played for Cornell University in 1979, winning the John D. Velie II trophy -awarded to the most outstanding player that season - his freshman year.

Despite being a lifelong Avs fan, he had never been to a game prior to this past Saturday night on Nov. 12. When asked about what it meant to him to be a part of the Avs' Hockey Fights Cancer night, Murphy said, "It means growing up in Duluth, Minnesota to going out there and standing with the Avs at a professional game. Now to be nominated from the cancer center to represent all those good people and how great they've been to me starting with my heart through cancer, I can't tell you how much I really appreciate being here."
Murphy's journey to simply being at Ball Arena is nothing short of incredible.
"UCHealth is not only where I discovered the leukemia I had, but how I started with UCHealth," Murphy said. "I got Life Flighted out of Scott's Bluff because of my heart. When they got me down to the hospital there, I had two arteries turn to solid bone. They put me in a coma for 10 days and I kept having heart attack after heart attack when they tried to do bypasses. Finally, Dr. Stroud went to Jackie and said if we leave him in the coma he's going to die. [Doctor Stroud said], 'I can try to drill one out, but he has a 12-13% chance of living and to get blood flowing. We can do bypasses six weeks later.' As you can see, it worked. They couldn't treat me for the leukemia until I had the five bypasses. So, they just monitored me for that for six or nine months."
The type of leukemia that Murphy has is chronic lymphoctic, which means that his bone marrow produces too many lymphocytes, a type of a white blood cell. The liver and/or spleen can also become too large to perform their functions in the body. Instead of accepting his diagnosis, or becoming discouraged, thanks to the staff at UCHealth, his determination and fighting spirit, Murphy is on his way to remission.
Murphy finished recounting his journey so far with cancer by adding, "They could treat me for my leukemia then (six years ago) and six years ago they said it was uncurable, they would maintain. Now, I'm on a protocol that come August or September after two years I'll be in total remission. My bloodwork right now is all normal besides a cancer marker, but (six to seven years ago) they said it wasn't possible."
Now, MacDonald and Murphy's friendship is new - about a month old - but their bond has grown quickly.
"I didn't even realize he was from Cornell," Murphy said with a smile on his face. "I had brought a picture of me in my old hockey gear, and he said when he was there, so now I've been following him since then."

"It was cool meeting him and getting to know him a little bit," MacDonald added. "It's cool to see someone from Cornell who was there so long ago and still has passion for Cornell itself, and then hockey too. His career there was short, he said he ended up transferring, but he loves Ithaca and loves the place. It's been cool to hear that from him."
For MacDonald, he recognizes the opportunity that Hockey Fights Cancer Night presents for not just the Avalanche, but everyone involved.
"Unfortunately, just about everybody knows somebody affected by cancer," MacDonald said. "It sucks on all fronts. The ability to raise awareness, seeing all the people on the wall when we walk into the rink for example, Maxy (long time Altitude TV analyst and former Denver University star Peter McNab) was one of them up there, which was pretty cool to see that too, but also unfortunate. It's a cool thing we can do."
MacDonald is absolutely right - cancer sucks, on all fronts - but thanks to non-profits like UCHealth, there are success stories like Gerald. People who care. People who fight. People who fight for those who others have given up on or written off.
Bears.