A three-sport athlete in high school, Anders Lee chose to pursue his dream of being a professional hockey player, and even now that he is one of the best players in the NHL playing for the New York Islanders, he still looks to others when putting his life in perspective.
Last year, Lee wrote an article titled “Hockey Players Aren’t Tough” for the Players’ Tribune, which is a website run by Derek Jeter that features journals from professional athletes. In his article, Lee details a moment that changed his life forever: watching Fenov Pierre-Louis give a speech about Stage IV neuroblastoma, a very rare nerve cancer that leads to intense chemotherapy.