Meet your fellow Colorado Hockey Now subscriber: Alex Young

Look up the word perseverance in the dictionary and you might just see the mugshot of Alex Young.

An only child from divorce, diagnosed with a disease that affects one of every 750,000 people, Young nonetheless kept battling. His life began to transform at age 21, when he finally met his biological father. Alex, a Colorado Springs native and Colorado Hockey Now subscriber, tells the story from here:

“He decided to drive to Colorado to come meet me. I quit my job, left my friends, packed a backpack and went on an 11-month excursion around the country. It was one of the most important and liberating times of my life,” Young writes.

Three years later, shortly after marrying, Young was diagnosed with cancer.

“We moved to Utah, and were there for eight months for treatment. I count my blessings every day that I’ve been in remission for six years. My wife and I divorced soon after we moved back to Colorado. My 20s were interesting, to say the least,” Young says.

“I’ve worked as a scan coordinator and as a freelance photographer. I currently live in Monument, Colorado. I’ve got an amazing girlfriend and a great little fur family. I remember the first time I watched a full hockey game. I had just turned 9, and it was just a couple weeks into the Avs inaugural season. My uncle had it on at a family gathering. I was a huge football fan up to that point, but at that moment I never really looked back. It was an immediate love for the game. I played a few years as a teen. I loved Foppa. To this day there’s not a player that I’ve seen that has played the way he did. Kariya, Hasek, Sakic, Roy, Marty St Louis, Drury, Datsyuk, Zubov, Hinote are some of my other favorites from the 2000s. The school year was almost over, but I remember I was extremely unfocused at school that May day. The Avs were set to play Game 5 vs the blues at home. A note came into my class excusing me to leave. I was confused as to why, but when I walked outside I saw my mom by the curb. She said, “Hey, let’s go watch some hockey, yeah?” She didn’t even have tickets. We drove up to Chopper Circle and she could only afford one ticket from the scumbag scalper. Well, she bought it, gave the ticket to me and told me to “have a great time, my boy…” Joe Sakic’s overtime goal right at the start… To this day I don’t remember a rumble like that at Pepsi Center. One of the best days of my life. I was on a cruise in the Bahamas during Game 7 of the SCF. My dad was obviously begging me to come enjoy the cruise, as it was our last night on the ship. I refused and watched the game from our room on a TV no bigger than Gabe Landeskog’s head. The signal faded out shortly after Ray’s moment. Still need to go on another cruise someday when hockey isn’t on. The Beautiful Game is the best on earth.”

Thanks for being  a subscriber Alex. Here are your five questions: