Teen Cancer Survivor

When Mahwah teen Tim Malone was a sophomore in high school, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma Stage 3B. He left school for treatment.

“Everybody knows someone who has been touched by cancer, but you don’t really understand what it’s like until you go through it yourself,” Malone, now an 18-year-old senior at Paramus Catholic, said. “Having cancer gives you a whole new perspective. So does beating it.”

Malone is a two-year cancer survivor.

“Having cancer forced me to grow up,” he said. “Like, right now, a lot of my friends are worried about petty prom drama. All that stuff flies right over me because I am more mature now. It has just made me more aware of other people’s problems.”

Malone wouldn’t have much time to worry about prom, anyway. For the second year in a row, he is busy in his role as the student event chair for the Relay for Life cancer-fighting fundraiser at Paramus Catholic.

“It is really about celebrating our fight,” Malone said. The teen said he is working to get as many local cancer survivors as possible to come to the Relay. The Relay, which goes from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. “is symbolic of what you go through when fighting cancer,” he said. “In the beginning it seems ok but it keeps getting longer. Around 2 a.m., you really have to push yourself, it’s the hardest part of the Relay and you have to struggle to get through it. And, by morning, you see that there is hope. The sunrise is the light at the end of the tunnel.”