She is a Ram through and through, and in the course of her journey, she has found Rams support Rams, which was instrumental for her along the way.
“I didn’t feel alone,” Mbadinga-Nzamba said. “There are so many people. I felt really supported. It’s interesting how many people who have been touched by or experienced cancer, and we all have a story to tell, an experience and a feeling. It felt enormous. My husband, Eric, works at the university as well, and he’s my rock. He’s my rock. He was with me at every appointment, every single time.”
Everyone she works with in SASS was supportive and encouraging, she said. Eventually, she would tell the class she taught, because they needed to know what was happening should she have to call off a class. Treatment, and the effects, are not predictable, not month to month or week to week.
It was Director of Athletics Joe Parker who came to her office one day to ask her if she would take part in the program.
Then there are the nurses and doctors at UCHealth and the infusion center who uplifted her. What they gave her, she said, was hope. At first, she felt so alone. After starting treatment, she knew what was far from the truth.
“You just think you’re just another patient, but every single time I walked into the infusion center, I really felt like I was the only one,” she said. “The wave of emotions you have all the time, and to be able to go in there and get loved on, get seen, get picked up, was really powerful. UCHealth is a very big part of who I am, and my gratitude goes beyond what I can express in words.”
For a person who had kept her journey private, especially early on, she jumped at the chance be represented. Saturday stands as a celebration for what she’s been through, but she also wants to be seen as an inspiration for those who are still in treatment.
She needed it herself at many points. Now she has the chance to return the gift.
“To be able to do this … The magnitude of it, I feel I have a good grasp on it, but I feel it’s going to hit me in the moment,” she said. “Because treatment and this journey has been literally a daily thing – almost a moment to moment thing. When you see a story on the internet or you’re talking to somebody who battled it 20 years ago, you have a connection and it takes you back to the first day when you found out and doctors are telling you what you need to do. I don’t feel like I’ve grasped it completely yet, but I’m here for it, and that feels like an accomplishment, to say, wow, what an honor.”
The date of the game is important, as it marks a year from her first chemotherapy treatment. She had one a week, on Friday’s, for 12 weeks. Then she underwent radiation treatments which ended in the middle of July. Since then, she has had need a shot every three weeks, the last of which she will take the Friday following the game.
The importance of the game will never be lost on Williams. He believes his team serves a much greater good than chasing a Mountain West victory or moving up the standings. It gives his team the opportunity to reverse the norm, to stand and applaud a group of people who are doing their best to defeat an opponent.
He loves that Murphy will represent Mbadinga-Nzamba, because their styles are similar. He is humbled they will be representing a cancer warrior they know.
“There’s a lot of meaning behind that. First off, Karly is a tremendous young lady who I will guarantee you will take a tone of pride in wearing the name of one of our former great Rams and somebody who is still here at CSU,” he said. “To be able to support Kim, who has meant so much to our program, years ago and still, what an honor for Karly.
“It is such an emotional game. I thought the games last year and two years ago were so emotional, and you don’t know those people. Now, to really know the person, their story, their journey and their fight, again, what an honor.”
Mbadinga-Nzamba has seen other players wear the No. 42 in the past, but for the first time in decades, the name Austin will be on the back one more time. That will hit, but how and to what degree, she herself is uncertain.
It made her emotional to see her 14-year old son, Daniel, get to wear a jersey with their name on the back this year, so all bets are off as she sits in the stands, hears Murphy announced as a starter and runs on to the court.
She will also think of her mom, who also beat breast cancer, undergoing treatment when Mbadinga-Nzamba first came back to CSU in 2012.
“As I think about what’s coming up Saturday, the arena I put all the blood, sweat and tears in, the opportunity and the honor to play at Colorado State University, the success we had, that’s what brings the emotion,” she said. “I’m going to fight back tears now, but that’s what it does. To know that CSU and CSU athletics is going to see all of me. There’s something about that. There’s certain parts during this whole journey, this was very, very private and close to me. Now, it’s, I’ve beat this, I’m going to beat this, I want to be an inspiration for others. I know that’s powerful.”
The moments come, but they all hit so differently. Even the ones which are clearly in view.
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