Former Elon men's soccer alum Anthony Catalano had faced many challenges on the pitch as a member and team captain of the Phoenix during his playing days from 2002-05. Catalano then used those same experiences he learned from his playing days to face his biggest challenge after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in June 2011. 

Below is an excerpt from Eric Townsend's piece from The Magazine of Elon called "Red Carding Cancer" that covers Catalano's fight against the disease and how he is currently helping others in their battles with cancer.
 

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The first sign of trouble appeared two years ago as Anthony Catalano '06 worked with a personal trainer to strengthen his upper body.
 
There it was, a protrusion that soon grew to where the former captain of the Phoenix men's soccer team knew it wasn't muscle that bulged from his neck and left clavicle.That was in June 2011. By July he was receiving chemotherapy for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and over the next six months, through loss of hair, energy and appetite, Catalano never wavered in his battle against a cancer that kills upward of 20,000 Americans each year. By his final radiation treatment in December, the disease had vanished, but it is never too far from his mind.
 
"I kicked cancer's butt and I really wanted to help the next person," says Catalano, a leisure and sport management major who played professional soccer following college and now works as a medical device salesman in Atlanta. "I felt it was my calling to do something. I'm fortunate that I came from a family with a medical background and I really felt passionate about helping somebody else who doesn't have connections."

In partnership with the Georgia chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society—and with encouragement from family and close friends—Catalano has since hosted a series of events under a grassroots initiative he calls Keep Kickin.' He recently completed the Herothon Half Marathon in San Antonio, Texas, with his girlfriend, Lauren Heflin, and former Elon teammate Brandon Hayes '05.
 
Last spring, Catalano rallied supporters under the Keep Kickin' moniker to help Hayes compete in the Georgia chapter's Man & Woman of the Year campaign. There have been other local races that generated donations, and Keep Kickin' even organized a pub crawl as a fundraiser. These efforts and more have contributed close to $50,000 toward cancer research and patient advocacy.

The full article can be read here: Red Carding Cancer.