Apex Friendship's Madelyn Wilson named winner of Stuart Scott Courage Award

Madelyn Wilson of Apex Friendship has been named the winner of the Stuart Scott Courage Award at HighSchoolOT Honors in downtown Raleigh.

Wilson is a member of the Patriots' volleyball team.

She was diagnosed with stage-four Hodgkin's Lymphoma in October of 2017.

“I didn’t tell my teammates how I felt and I didn’t tell my coaches how I felt because I didn’t want to let them down,” Wilson said.

The cancer went into remission in December after five rounds of chemotherapy, and she was able to return to the court with her team in the fall of 2018.

“Getting back to volleyball was my goal through all of it and kind of what kept me going,” Wilson said.

Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with relapse in March of this year. She began another round of chemotherapy treatment and began to wait for a bone marrow transplant.

In May, scans revealed that Wilson was once again free of cancer. She began a third round of chemotherapy to attempt to make sure the disease stayed away.

The probability of successful recovery is high, but the plan of attack is aggressive.

Throughout her journey, Wilson has documented her fight with cancer with a video blog.

"I want to help people," she said. "I want people to see what it's like to be going through what I'm going through."

But she doesn't want cancer to keep her from her dream.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that if I want to play, that’s what I’ll do,” Wilson said.