DENVER -- When the NHL approached Josh Manson in 2024 about being involved in its Hockey Fights Cancer initiative, the decision was a no-brainer for the Colorado Avalanche defenseman.

“It started with, obviously, with my mom being gone,” Manson said of becoming a Hockey Fights Cancer Champion . “That was just something that hit close to home. So I was like, 'OK, I want to get involved in some way and try to honor her memory, because she fought hard.’”

Manson lost his mother Lana to cancer on Aug. 5, 2023. What had started as a mole on the back of her calf became melanoma. Lana was initially given three months to live, but the experimental treatment she received extended her time with her family to more than seven years.

He also lost his grandfather to melanoma a year later.

It was t

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