Benefit organized for Squaw ski instructor

21-year-old diagnosed with terminal cancer

Click to Enlarge Maddison Page smiles at the top of an Alaskan peak before her first descent on a day of heli-skiing. A benefit will be held this Saturday for Page, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Submitted photo Browse and Buy Sierra Sun Photos

By Julie Brown
Sierra Sun, jbrown@sierrasun.com
May 6, 2008

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Maddison Page is the kind of person people want to meet.

Her name would suit a rock star. Her personality fits her name.

She’s the life of the party, her friends say. But there’s more to Maddison Page. She’s a walking, breathing testament of what it means to live life in the face of death.

Maddy is the person who has followed winter across the globe to ski season after season, said her boyfriend, Sean Harris. This season was Maddy’s first in Tahoe.
A Squaw Kids ski instructor, Maddy is positive, fun, easy going, Harris said. She’s independent and almost stubborn about it.

Her smile is huge.

Maddison Page has a knack for making people feel good in their own skin, said Scott Hahn, who met Maddy at Squaw Valley’s Employee Housing last fall.

Exuberant with a dash of youth. That’s how Hahn describes his Australian friend.
“She’s, like, the strongest person,” Hahn said. “She’s so positive and so happy. There needs to be more people like her.”

Maddy bubbles over with personality, said Kelly Nelson, 22. Painting each of her fingernails a different color, she’s spunky.

“She’s so hard to explain,” Nelson said. “She’s so unique in herself. There’s no one like her.”

Maddison Page lives for the good life. She lives a full life. And she probably knows the value of life, which means she must also know that life is not fair.

Because this life-loving 21-year-old was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But guess what Maddy did when doctors gravely told her there was time-bomb attached to her life — three months, they said.

Maddison Page went heli-skiing in Alaska.

“She’s still so excited about things. I don’t know, she’s not jaded,” Hahn said. “And because she’s so excited about life, it doesn’t give her time to be morbid about death.”

Heli-skiing was at the top, but there’s so much more on Maddy’s to-do list, Hahn said. That includes getting married by Elvis in Las Vegas and traveling to Egypt and Ethiopia.

Her list also includes staying strong, trying alternative forms of treatment and keeping hope.

The future may not be certain for Maddy, but one thing is: Friends, family and community will be there to support “the incomparable Maddison Page” and her fight for life.

Because people love Maddison Page. And Maddy inspires people.

The Good Life Festival
A benefit for Maddison Page is taking place in the Olympic Village Lodge in Squaw Valley at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 10. The day will be filled with live music and entertainment, a raffle and the opportunity to help make the things Maddy has wanted to do in her lifetime a reality. In lieu of an entry fee, donations are requested at the door, and all donations are fully tax deductible.