ST. JOSEPH, Minn. - Despite growing up in a suburb of the Twin Cities, Molly Miller didn't have a lot of time for the Minnesota Vikings.
Rather, the College of Saint Benedict junior's NFL loyalties rested with the Green Bay Packers across the Wisconsin border.
But setting aside those Cheesehead tendencies, Miller could not have been more excited to take part in Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson's "Strike Out Cancer" bowling event held Sept. 29 in Eden Prairie.
"A neighbor at home (in Rosemount) works for the foundation and she invited me," Miller said. "I got to go with one of my friends from Saint Ben's and they put us in a bowling lane with Justin Jefferson's brother Jordan. Then we had a chance to talk to Justin and get autographs and photos before we went back to bowling. He was so nice and took the time to talk with everyone there.
"It was a really fun event … even if I am a Packers fan. It was for a really good cause."
It's a cause deeply personal to Miller, whose own life was upended when she was diagnosed with late-stage 2 Hodgkin's lymphoma last fall. That news came only weeks after she'd suffered a torn ACL, which brought her sophomore season of college soccer to an early end.
"I'd been dealing with itchy skin and redness the whole summer before last season," she recalled. "My lymph nodes were super swollen. But they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They thought it might be Lyme disease. So I figured I'd focus on soccer and deal with it after the season. Then I tore my ACL and meniscus, and since I was out for the year anyway, we decided to focus on it then. It was about two weeks later when the tests came back showing cancer.
"When I got the phone call, I was in shock. I wasn't even crying. I just thought it couldn't be real. I was only 20 years old. Cancer didn't seem possible. Looking back, though, tearing my ACL was really a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But for me, it meant catching the cancer earlier instead of waiting a few more months."
That didn't make the next few months any easier, however. Miller went through 12 rounds of chemotherapy, one every two weeks. Yet through it all she remained determined to stay on campus and complete her normal class schedule.
"That was something I had to do for my own mental health," she said. "I didn't want to sit in bed all day feeling sick and not moving around. Luckily, all my professors were so helpful. There were some days when I was too weak to get out of bed, or I had to stay away from crowds. If it was too cold, there were times I couldn't leave my apartment to go to class. But they worked with me to make sure I stayed on track.
"I had to wear a mask, even if I went to go bike in the gym. I got some weird stares from people who didn't know what I was going through. But it was worth it to have other things to keep my mind occupied with."
Miller also leaned on the support of her family (father Eric, mother Trisha and older brother Sam), as well as her friends and teammates at CSB.
"My dad took me to every single one of my chemo appointments and my mom (an elementary school teacher) would FaceTime in with her kids to offer support," she said. "That really picked me up. I can't imagine what it was like for them to have to watch their child go through all that. But they were there for me every step of the way.
"Everyone here on campus was great," Miller continued. "My roommate (softball player Alyssa Downhour) was by my side the whole way. She was someone I could talk to and lean on, which was super helpful."
And, in February, all Miller's hard work and resilience paid off in amazing news when her positron emission tomography (PET) scan came back showing she was cancer free. She completed her chemotherapy in April and has continued to undergo scans every three months since.
But so far, the results have all come back with the same positive verdict.
"It was just like taking this amazing weight off my shoulders," Miller said of getting the cancer free diagnosis. "There aren't really words to describe how relieving that was. I still had to finish going through chemo, but to know I was cancer free was such an amazingly wonderful feeling."
Her cancer diagnosis limited the amount of work Miller could put into rehabbing her ACL, an injury her oncologist said was likely connected to her cancer.
"Even before I was diagnosed, I'd lost around 20 pounds and I was playing soccer multiple hours every day," Miller said. "They think that probably weakened my muscles, which made the ACL tear more likely to happen."
Miller is sitting out the soccer season this fall to continue her recovery. But she remains determined to return for her senior season in 2027. And, after all she's already overcome, it's hard to doubt her.
"I learned a lot about who she really is after watching her go through all this over the past year," CSB head coach Steve Kimble said. "She never seemed to have a down day. No matter what she was going through on the inside, she always kept a positive attitude.
"I was so impressed by the resilience she showed. It says so much about her character."
But she said she still is surprised at times by the impact her story has had on others.
"I forget sometimes that I am a cancer survivor, just because I'm so young and when people talk about that it's usually in connection with people older, or with super-young children," she said.
"People will come up and tell me they're amazed by my story, or that they're praying for me. And it will take a second before I realize they're talking about my cancer battle."
But Miller said that battle has given her a new outlook.
"I've definitely learned how to better appreciate and savor the little things in life," she said. "Before all this, my life was basically go to class, go to soccer, do homework, go to bed and repeat. Now that I'm not playing this season, I've been able to spend more time just hanging out with friends or doing that daily stuff I may have taken for granted before."
And while she certainly isn't ready to trade her Packer green and gold for Viking purple, she also has a new level of respect for a certain standout wide receiver.
"What (Justin Jefferson) is doing with the JJetts Foundation is so important," she said. "It's a cause that means a lot to my family and to so many others."
