Matt Hazzard Told:
You’re Cancer Free
Ordeal Over For Chamber Executive
We won! No one fights alone and we did it together! I can officially say, that I am cancer free! My wife and I can’t thank everyone enough. Rather than type my thoughts, I figured I would record what I am feeling. Please share with everyone you can. All of us are affected by cancer in some way, and hopefully this can show others it can be done!!! Thank you to Mike Millea, Jen, and Elizabeth Millea for being there with Stephanie Hazzard and I today!
Posted by Matthew Hazzard on Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Matt Hazzard posted this video yesterday announcing the good news: He is cancer-free after a 10-month ordeal.
COOPERSTOWN – Matt Hazzard, the youthful executive director of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, announced yesterday on his Facebook page that he is cancer-free less than a year after being struck with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“I could not ask for a better way to end to 2015,” Matt said today in a followup e-mail to Chamber members when, following a PET scan, doctors advised him of his recovery.
“All of the support that the entire membership of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce has provided me during this battle has been incredible,” he continued. “This entire community rallied behind me, and showed the true spirit our community has. All of you are operating your own small businesses, and the time you took to support us will be something I will never forget.”
Hazzard replaced Pat Szarpa, executive director since April 2012, in June 2014. But in February, after learning of a tumor in his chest, he was admitted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for treatment.
He was able to return to work at the end of July, and organized a successful Cooptoberfest on Columbus Day Weekend and the Ugly Sweater 4K Walk/Run in early December, but continued treatments.
A CCS graduate, Hazzard returned to his home town in 2014 after working with the U.S. Golf Association and the MLB Players Alumni Association.
He and wife Stephanie, who is Hall of Fame education director, live in Cooperstown with their son, Paxton.