It’s been three years, almost to the day – April 24, 2019 – since Molly Gorczyca was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

That’s long enough that, in many ways, former field hockey player Rowan’s life is almost back to normal. But the impact of his journey, from treatment to recovery, the pandemic and his return to the game last fall, is still fresh.

The same goes for the publicity she’s gained along the way, including a People Magazine section wrote that she was dating fellow AML sufferer, Ryan Smith, until his death in March last year.

Now a Rowan graduate and into the working world, 22-year-old Gorczyca is able to share her inspirational story with the world and help inspire others.

For all that, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association presented Gorczyca with its bravest award at its annual banquet on Monday, the event’s first since 2020.

“It’s always kind of surreal to me,” she said. “I appreciate it, because I like to spread my story and I like to show people that there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. … I hope it makes people feel good, and I hope that it just inspires people to also, if they face adversity, to try to do what they can to get through it.

Gorczyca said she has heard from many people she has inspired.

“If you can only find one good thing and you can stick with it and you can push yourself, I hope that’s what inspires people, and people have been kind enough to reach out and say they see that in me and they see that in Ryan,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘You can do it!’ The love that helped her beat cancer inspires Rowan’s Molly Gorczyca

That’s not to say it’s always been easy to bear the psychological burden of everything that’s happened.

“At some point, there’s no answer to ‘Why me?’ – there just isn’t any,” she says. “And if you’re kind of stuck on that, it can really lower your spirits and make you feel worse than you already do. So I tried to stay as positive as possible, whatever the situation.

And for an award honoring courage, well, Gorczyca had plenty of that too.

“What I did was terrifying and life threatening, and I knew that and I wasn’t going to deny it,” she said. “But I still got up every day and I fought, and I think that’s courage. Even though it was absolutely the scariest thing in my life, I stayed there and I faced it and fought it.

Gorczyca graduated from Rowan last December and now works in marketing for famed makeup brand Estée Lauder. And as she reflected on how long it’s been since this journey began, in some ways it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.

“I’m working now and living my life, and I think back to three years ago, imagining that I would be here right now,” she said. “It looks like it was 10 years ago. But sometimes I look at a picture, and I see a birthday or something, and I’m like – gosh, it feels like yesterday. … It feels like 10 years, and it feels like 10 days.

— Phillies slugger Bryce Harper won the Outstanding Professional Athlete award.

– Former Eagles coach Dick Vermeil won the Living Legend award. He was introduced by Ron Jaworski and was surprised by two other of his star players: Bill Bergey and Wilbert Montgomery.

–Villanova basketball star Collin Gillespie won the Outstanding Amateur Award.

— Flyers veterans public relations director Zack Hill won the Good Guy award.

– The Team of the Year honor was awarded to area medical personnel and other first responders for their role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Anna Doubeni of Penn Medicine represented them on stage.

– Other guest speakers included Theresa Grentz, Phil Martelli, Paul Palmer, Sébastien Le Toux, Joe Watson, Carli Lloyd, Larry Bowa, Mark Howe and Doug Collins.