During her sophomore year at SUNY Potsdam, Megan Mills ’26 started experiencing unusual symptoms.
She would wake up feeling swollen and itchy. At first, she assumed it was something she had eaten—but over time, it became clear that something more serious was going on. When the semester ended, she returned home to Ontario, Canada, and quickly scheduled an appointment with her doctor.
“He’s been my doctor forever, so when I said something was wrong, he sent me for a chest x-ray,” she said.
Her instincts were right. The radiograph revealed a large 10-inch tumor. After a biopsy, she was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“It started to hurt because it was big enough that it was affecting the way I would breathe when I was asleep. There’s no history of it in my family. It was out of nowhere,” she explained.
Just 19 years old at the time, Mills immediately began chemotherapy to battle the rare but treatable blood cancer. Over the next several months, the treatment took its toll, as she faced fatigue and nausea. But as the fall semester approached, she made a decision—she was going back to SUNY Potsdam.
More importantly, she was going back to her team.
“The only thing I wanted to do was go back to SUNY Potsdam and be with my teammates,” she said. “My coach and the team were so supportive. If I were not back here and around my teammates, it wouldn’t have been the journey that it was.”
Throughout her treatment, Mills traveled back to Canada every two weeks for chemotherapy—crossing the northern border for appointments, and returning to campus the very next day. As her teammates prepared for the upcoming season, she stayed right beside them, participating as much as she could during practice.
Just four days after her final chemotherapy infusion on November 29, 2024, she returned to the ice for her first game of the season.
“Even though I felt horrible, I didn’t miss practice. Some days it was hard, but it would make me forget about what I was going through,” she said.
The treatment proved highly effective, shrinking the tumor to a small benign mass. Now, one year into remission, Mills undergoes PET scans every three months to monitor her health.
The experience has reshaped her perspective—forcing her to confront challenges and realities that most people her age never have to consider.
Looking Ahead
Now a senior at SUNY Potsdam, she is focused on finishing her degree in exercise science.
Through coursework in strength and conditioning, personal training, and beyond, she has been preparing for a career dedicated to improving the lives of people in her community. Her experience with cancer has given her a deeply personal understanding of health, recovery, and resilience—one that now shapes her professional goals.
This semester, she is leading a fitness class for senior citizens at the United Helpers retirement community as part of her capstone internship.
“Life is so important. That’s what made me interested in working with special populations such as seniors, because exercise and being mobile will help prolong their lives."
Every week, Mills leads a group of seniors through chair-based exercises focused on resistance training and functional movement. Among the participants is Neil Johnson—a former physical education professor and wrestling coach at SUNY Potsdam—who joins his peers in following her lead.
“We do banded exercises, focusing on safer alternatives to heavy weights. And they tell me how much better it makes them feel during the day, doing some exercise with me,” she said.
As part of her internship, she has also been working as a personal trainer, helping Chip Morris, former dean of students at SUNY Potsdam, reach his fitness goals. In recognition of her dedication and impact, Morris wrote Mills a letter of recommendation as she prepares to enter the job market.
“Being in such a tight-knit town, there are so many opportunities. You connect with one person, and it opens so many other doors for you," she said.
Mills is one of 14 exercise science students completing internships around the county this semester. While many of her classmates work with student-athletes at SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University, Mills has taken a different path—one centered on connection, care and community.
“I just like how I feel—I’m helping them with something that I know a lot about. It’s nice to see how much I impact their day,” she said.
While classroom learning laid the foundation, the applied learning experience has helped her find confidence.
“In class, you learn how to do these things, but you never know if you’re going to be good at it or enjoy it until you actually do it. From my first week until now, I feel much more comfortable with the exercises that I’m coming up with.”
The exercise science program’s emphasis on hands-on learning, led by Program Coordinator Tanya Hewitt, has allowed Mills the opportunity to explore a range of career paths with the health and fitness field.
“The class sizes are smaller, and you feel like the teachers care about you and your future. Tanya has so much on her plate, but she’s there for every single person. I’ll email her, and she will respond in 10 minutes. You’re not getting that everywhere,” Mills said.
Originally from Canada, Mills is now applying for her Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa, which would allow her to remain in the U.S. after she graduates and pursue a job related to her degree. She has applied to positions around Northern New York, including roles as an athletic director and as a fitness instructor within the corrections system.
“There are a lot more opportunities here than in Ontario, especially in this area with the universities, athletics, and a lot of people interested in hockey,” she said. “I feel like that opens a lot of opportunities for me. I fell in love with just being here.”
Article and photos by Jason Hunter