Background on Kirk MacDonald's Testicular Cancer Ordeal
Kirk MacDonald: Senior forward
for the RPI Men's Hockey Team.
[ Photo: Rensselaer Athletics ]
Some Rensselaer alumni are only now hearing the story of Kirk MacDonald, the Rensselaer senior who lead the RPI Hockey team in scoring in 2004-05. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer just after the season ended last spring and had extensive medical treatement to fight the metatisizing cancer.
I wrote this email to members of the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey leadership committee on October 21:
Guys:
An article appeared in yesterday's Albany Times-Union headlined Cancer orderal sidelines RPI star that caught my attention. Kirk MacDonald, a senior who lead the men's hockey team in scoring in 2004-05, had a press conference on Wednesday to announce that he would not play this season because he is recovering from a serious case of metastatic testicular cancer.
According to the article, he had an orchiectomy at Albany Med in April, had four chemo cycles, and ended up in the hospital for 65 days in Vancouver BC for procedures to remove metastisies and deal with complications. He got out of the hospital two weeks ago, but was down to 160 pounds when he left:
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=410767&category=SPORTS&newsdate=10/20/2005
A member of my family had testicular cancer three or four years ago, so this is a personal thing for me. Testicular cancer is a terrible shock to a man in his 20s or 30s. Most men who get it have never seriously contemplated their own mortality.
I will make contact with the Hockey Office at RPI and try to get more details. Please respond if you want me to provide you with more information. I'm at least going to send Kirk a note telling him I'm raising money for cancer research and offering any help I can provide.
-- Dave Aiello '89
[ Note: I would have published this note on RCNJ.org, but our publishing system wasn't working at that time and didn't come back on-line until December 13. ]
Other articles that appeared on Internet about Kirk's cancer treatment:
- RPI's MacDonald Diagnosed With Testicular Cancer
- RPI's MacDonald To Apply For Medical Redshirt
- Black Friday Lives On (MacDonald's return to campus after treatment, RPI vs Quinnipiac, November 11, 2005)