Hayley Salvatore of the Washington Post tells the amazing story of 14-year-old Madison Smith, who has overcome Stage 3 colorectal and is competing for her high school golf team with dreams of making it to Augusta.
During a trip to Maui in August, Madison started experiencing extreme stomach pain and nausea. While she was initially diagnosed as being infected with E. coli and Salmonella — bacteria consistent with food poisoning — her symptoms persisted after she took medication, prompting her mother to suspect worse. Doctors performed an X-ray, found a stricture — a narrowing of the intestinal tract — and airlifted her to a hospital in Honolulu that was equipped to perform surgery.
When pediatric surgeon Sidney Johnson was finished, he pulled Molly and James Smith out of the recovery room to discuss the results. In the hospital’s chapel, Johnson told them he had removed 23 swollen lymph nodes and a foot of Madison’s colon and that a biopsy came back positive for both celiac disease and cancer. Molly and James were stunned to learn about their otherwise healthy daughter’s diagnosis.
“We had not even been contemplating that because she’s so young and it’s so rare for her age group,” James said. “It just doesn’t happen, so we weren’t prepared for that.”
The cancer afflicts around 100 kids Smith’s age annually, but with the support of her family, school and puppy, she made it through 12 chemo sessions and is back on the course playing high school matches with hopes of making to Augusta via the Drive, Chip and Putt.
Over the course of the season, she has amassed 8.5 points in match play. Her favorite match was her first varsity outing with the team against Paul VI. Although the Falcons lost, 6.5-2.5, Madison, who was up against a junior boy, won her duel.
“We were tied through the ninth hole, and he was sweating, he was getting nervous and he was like, ‘This is not supposed to happen,’ ” said Madison, whose long-term goal is to golf at the collegiate level. “I like playing against boys because they don’t expect it from a little girl.”
Playing at the home of the Masters has always been a goal of Madison’s, so much so that when she was asked what she wanted to do as part of the Make-A-Wish foundation, her answer was easy — to play Augusta National and spend a few nights in the Crow’s Nest, where amateur golfers stay during the Masters.
“If you could say, ‘Yeah I got to play Augusta when I was 14,’ people would be like, ‘Huh?’ ” Madison said.
That wish has not yet been granted, but Madison is confident that she will reach her chosen destination at some point, whether it’s through the Drive, Chip & Putt competition or Make-A-Wish.
“She’s convinced she’s going to get to Augusta,” James said, “one way or another.”