\n Related: Purdue Volleyball Star Kenna Wollard, 21, Shares Cancer Diagnosis: \u2018So Tough\u2018<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\tPurdue University volleyball star Kenna Wollard revealed she was diagnosed with cancer \u2014 but provided an optimistic update about her future.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m now ready to share that this past August I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma,\u201d Wollard wrote via Instagram on Thursday, October 28. \u201cToday, I found out that the treatments are working and I [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I found that I want to talk about my mom,\u201d he said. \u201cTo just tell everybody about the person she was for those who weren\u2019t able to experience being in a room with her. You should remember the happy memories. You can\u2019t just look at the last few weeks leading to her passing because it\u2019s not fun to remember. She wasn\u2019t herself with everything she had to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew recalled how his mother\u2019s cancer didn\u2019t slow her down, especially when it came to being an active hockey mom for him and his older brother, Johnny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n In partnership with Northwell and the Islanders Children\u2019s Foundation, The Jennifer Schaefer Child Support Room is opened with a ribbon cutting at RJ Zuckerberg Cancer Center in New Hyde Park on November 1, 2026. Dennis DaSilva \/New York Islanders<\/p>\n
\u201cEven during the tough times when she was going through cancer, she\u2019d still want to do anything to make our family happy,\u201d he said. \u201cShe would try and get up while she was going through treatments and things like that. I was like, \u2018No, Mom, you gotta rest.\u2019 But she always put her family before her. She\u2019d do anything to keep us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew continued, \u201cShe always had a smile on her face. Her laugh was the best laugh ever. The loudest laugh. You could be in the next subdivision over and hear her laugh from a mile away. It was awesome. She was the best person.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, November 2, Matthew unveiled the Jennifer Schaefer Child Support Center at Northwell\u2019s R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center in New York\u2019s Lake Success. Funded by a $150,000 gift from the Islanders Children\u2019s Foundation, the hockey-themed room gives kids a place to play, laugh and find support while their parent undergoes cancer treatment, complete with personal messages from Matthew.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom would be super honored to have her name on a room,\u201d Matthew told Us. \u201cI know she\u2019s always with us every step of the way. She\u2019ll be such a big part of that room and its spirit, helping all the kids and families that come through.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He continued, \u201cI think the coolest thing is, when families are going through treatments, kids can come into this room and they can see a therapist or they can just be a kid and play games. Hopefully it feels like they\u2019re nowhere near a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/matthew-schaefer-2.jpeg\")
\n In partnership with Northwell and the Islanders Children\u2019s Foundation, The Jennifer Schaefer Child Support Room is opened at RJ Zuckerberg Cancer Center in New Hyde Park on November 1, 2026. Dennis DaSilva \/New York Islanders<\/p>\n
Every child who enters the Jennifer Schaefer Child Support Center will leave with a bracelet with a ladybug on it \u2014 for a very special reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a lot of ladybugs when my mom passed,\u201d Matthew explained. \u201cIt will have my number on it and Islanders colors, just to show every kid and family that passes through that room that I will always play for them. Me and my family will always be with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Islanders star Matthew Schaefer is making a point to keep his beloved mother\u2019s memory alive after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[18196,91,88,92654,385,99],"class_list":["post-904323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-celebrity-moms","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-exclusive-interview","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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