Young Capitals fan battling bone cancer meets Ovechkin, tours arena

Madison Smith, a normally chatty 12-year-old, said she was at a loss for words when Alex Ovechkin handed her a puck on Friday before the Washington Capitals faced the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena.

"I didn't even think," Madison said. "I was like, 'Yeah, okay, thank you.'"

Madison, her family and some of her doctors from Medstar Georgetown University Hospital were guests of Ovechkin and the Capitals as part of the "Gr8 Chase for Victory Over Cancer."

She watched the team's pregame warmup from the bench and was given a top-to-bottom tour of the arena.

"I was like, 'Wow, I'm the star today," said Madison, an Odenton, Maryland, resident. "Just getting all the fist bumps from all the players and getting the puck."

Ovechkin, in partnership with Hockey Fights Caner and the V Foundation for Cancer Research, is donating an equal amount of his career goal total for every goal he scores during the remainder of his NHL career in honor of his pursuit for the NHL all-time goal record.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the Capitals parent company, is matching Ovechkin's donations, 100 percent of which will go directly toward pediatric cancer research through the V Foundation. Fans can support the effort by donating $8, or any amount they can give, at made at v.org/GR8chase.

For Madison, attending Friday's game and meeting Capitals players was some of the best medicine, her mother, Kim Smith, said.

In March 2024, she went to MedStar Health Urgent Care for what her family thought was "growing pains." She was later diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that occurs mostly in teenagers and young adults.

She immediately began treatment that included a combination of chemotherapy and surgery to remove the disease from her femur and lung. Her recovery regimen includes physical therapy, a daily chemo pill and bi-monthly scans.

"This gave her one more uplifting thing to keep her moving forward," her mother said. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to come down here and be on the ice, watching the players and for them to take the time to acknowledge her, the fist pumps the puck and all that. I mean, it was just truly remarkable."

Madison's eyes were as wide as her smile when she watched the players go through their warmup routine, met Capitals broadcasters Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin, and toured the arena.

"I didn't think it would be this big," she said. "Like, it was really big. We were all walking around. I'm, like, 'How big is this place?'"