BACK ON THE ICE; SIMI TEEN BEATS CANCER TO PLAY AGAIN.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer

Matt Bothwell knew he was sick long before the disease appeared on an X-ray. It was a little boy's fear, an anxiety that stemmed from his mother's death from breast cancer when he was 11 years old.

Bothwell was convinced the same fate awaited him.

``He always worried that he would get cancer and die too,'' said Buddy Bothwell, Matt's father.

Four years after his mother's death, during what should have been the greatest time of his life playing with a prestigious United States Select 15-year-olds hockey team, Bothwell was diagnosed with stage-three Burkitt's non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, an extremely fast-growing form of cancer.

``As soon as the doctor walked into the office to review the tests, Matt looked him in the eye and said, `It's cancer, isn't it?' '' Buddy said.

Now, a little more than a year after learning he had cancer and nine months after completing difficult chemotherapy, Matt Bothwell is playing hockey again. He is a member of the Ventura Mariners, a Junior B team based in Simi Valley.

He isn't quite the player he was, but to friends who saw Bothwell last November when he weighed 110 pounds, didn't have hair and could barely walk, it's a miracle he is playing at all.

No one knows if Bothwell will ever regain his previous form. If truth be known, he doesn't much care. He is alive and able to lace up his skates, and that is all that matters.

``I just thank God every day that I'm getting another chance to play,'' Bothwell said. ``Other than that, I just want to take things one day at a time.''

On the fast track

There was a time when Matt Bothwell's hockey skills made him one of the top 60 players in his age group in the United States.

At 5-foot-10, 150 pounds, Bothwell was not the biggest or the fastest, but he had quick hands, tremendous vision and uncanny passing skills.

``Unbelievably creative,'' said Craig Lennox, Matt's coach on a Colorado all-star team. ``The type of player that can read the ice, dart in and out of traffic and play the game with flair and excitement. His teammates loved him because he shared the puck so well.''

Bothwell was on hockey's fast track. He dominated youth leagues in Pueblo, Colo., then departed for better competition in larger cities throughout the state.

In 1996, Bothwell's talents landed him a spot on the United States Select 15 Northwest team, which was to play in a national tournament that summer in Minnesota.

His coaches felt he had a good chance of playing in a top Junior A league by the time he was 16. Maybe the NHL would come calling after that.

``It's pretty safe to say that he was headed places,'' Lennox said.

Just prior to the tournament, Bothwell complained of a fever and stomach aches and was rushed to a Minneapolis hospital. The initial diagnosis was a bad case of the flu. When his condition worsened a few days later, however, doctors discovered Bothwell had a ruptured appendix. Even worse, he was suffering from salmonella and E. coli poisoning.

An examination of the removed appendix revealed a tumor in his stomach, which doctors warned was spreading through Bothwell's body at an alarming rate.

``All I could think of was that it was happening all over again,'' Buddy Bothwell said. ``My wife, and now Matt. It was devastating.''

His son was shocked, even though he had predicted his destiny long ago.

``I was scared, nervous, speechless,'' Bothwell said. ``I had seen what had happened to my mother, and then it happens to me.''

Dark days of treatment

Nobody is exactly sure how close Bothwell came to dying. One doctor suggested that if chemotherapy had not started within a few days of the diagnosis, he probably would have died.

``It is a fatal disease without therapy,'' said Dr. Lia Gore, one of Matt's physicians. ``Fifteen years ago it was fatal no matter what. But fortunately we've learned through time and treatment that it is very responsive to chemotherapy.''

At first, Bothwell resisted chemotherapy, having watched the toll the treatment took on his mother while failing to cure her.

Bothwell, though, realized no other alternative existed.

The treatment was arduous. For seven consecutive days, 24 hours a day, chemicals were pumped into Bothwell's body. This happened six times over a six-month period. He also underwent surgery and a number of spinal taps.

His father would stand by Bothwell's side, devastated when he looked at the tubes that were attached to his son's chest.

During treatment, Bothwell received 60 blood transfusions, none of which were provided by his immediate family because of health concerns. Friends and coaches traveled from around the country to donate blood.

``To know Matt and to understand what a terrific kid he is, whatever you can do to help you do,'' Lennox said. ``He was a kid we cared about who was in distress. You just want to help any way you can.''

Bothwell's weight fell dramatically, and his muscles atrophied. After one treatment, Bothwell's father had to carry him into the house.

Hockey was the furthest thing from anyone's mind.

``At one point, it didn't seem like he'd ever play again,'' his father said.

The good news was the chemotherapy was successful, although Bothwell had to wait six months after the final treatment in January before doctors pronounced him healthy.

Return to ice

In retrospect, it almost seems silly that Matt Bothwell seriously thought of giving up hockey.

He wasn't concerned with injury, and he didn't fear relapse. Pride was his only trepidation.

Bothwell had played at such a high level, he could not accept returning any less a player.

``There was a definite hesitation initially,'' Lennox said. ``Basically he didn't want to embarrass himself.''

But after the Bothwell family took a trip to Hawaii in February, furnished by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Bothwell's brother Buddy Jr., who played with the Ventura Mariners a year ago, told Matt it was time to get back on the ice. If nothing else, he would at least learn if he could still play.

``Buddy told Matt he had all the talent in the world, more then anybody in the family and that he could make it all the way,'' Bothwell's father said.

Bothwell's spirits were lifted by a visit from NHL star Joe Sakic, who came to see him in the hospital. Mario Lemieux, who had a less serious brush with cancer in 1993, sent a letter.

This, coupled with the support of his friends and family, convinced Bothwell to put his skates back on in March.

It was a discouraging start, to say the least. Bothwell felt like a beginner. His speed, strength, agility and confidence were gone.

``You name it, I no longer had it,'' he remembered.

Bothwell returned to the rink each day. It was a slow, painful, often disheartening process, but eventually Bothwell started to improve.

In July, Bothwell traveled to California to try out for the Mariners. It was an exploratory visit from the outset, an opportunity to gauge his progress to that point.

In fact, Mariners coach Sean McGillivray wasn't sure Bothwell would make the team. He quickly discarded that notion after Bothwell dominated a rookie camp and then turned in an outstanding performance against older players during the veterans' training camp.

``At first we were all just happy to see him on the ice,'' McGillivray said. ``Because of what he went through, we tried to take it easy with him. But he kept improving every day, and by the end of our second camp we realized that this kid was something special.''

Today, Bothwell is one of the Mariners' top players. The team's youngest player and only a sophomore at Royal High School, he has established himself in a competitive league and revised his hockey future.

``I think I'm close to being all the way back,'' Bothwell said. ``Every time I get on the ice I improve a little more.''

PROFILE

Who: Matt Bothwell.

What he does: Plays for the Ventura Mariners Junior B Hockey Team in Simi Valley.

The past: Bothwell, 16, was diagnosed with Burkitt's non-Hodgkins Lyphoma. Before his diagnosis, Bothwell was playing with a prestigious United States Select 15-year-old hockey team.

The present: A year after the diagnosis and nine months after chemotherapy, Bothwell is slowly regaining his form as a member of the Mariners. He is the team's second-leading scorer and an integral part of its power-play.

The future: Bothwell hopes to recapture the magic that made him one of the nation's best players in his age group. If he continues to play well with the Mariners, he could be a member of a top Junior A team within a year or two.

Observation: ``Forget about hockey, his health is the most important thing right now,'' Mariners coach Sean McGillivray said. ``But to see him out there playing after what he's gone through and how he looked six months ago, you just have to shake your head in amazement. Six months ago, people didn't know if he'd live.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) Matt Bothwell of Simi Valley was one of the top youth hockey players in the U.S. before being struck with cancer.

Joe Binoya / Special to the Daily News

(2--color) Matt Bothwell, 16, is again dominating on the ice after winning his fight against cancer.

Gene Blevins / Special to the Daily News

Box: PROFILE (see text)