Prospect’s Dix takes her shot at fighting cancer

Giving back? Meg Dix is getting used to it. And already getting better at it.

Last year at about this time, Dix, a senior girls water polo standout at Prospect, organized a benefit called “Attacking Autism.”

With the help of Hersey’s girls water polo team, Dix and her teammates sold T-shirts and accepted donations for the cause after working hard to publicize the game and the event. In the name of raising autism awareness, they cleared about $800.

Dix was prepared to repeat the drill with another autism effort this spring when another cause — cancer — hit particularly close to home.

Kevin McDowell, a former neighbor and close family friend of the Dix family who’d moved to Geneva, had graduated early from Geneva High School. He’d recently started his career as a professional triathlete, and with astounding results.

Competing for the Northern Illinois-based Multisport Madness Triathlon Club, he placed 10th in the first event of the 2011 USA Triathlon Elite Race Series, suggesting his promising results in youth events was no fluke and that he’d be a force at the pro level.

After the event, though, McDowell’s family noticed a lump on his neck. He had it checked out and received the bad news: Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

McDowell recently started chemotherapy treatments and will need all the help he can get from his family, from Dix and from anyone interested in helping out.

Dix has a positive outlook about McDowell’s future. She noted that treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma has a very high success rate, and that someone as mentally and physically tough as McDowell probably has a better chance of making it through this difficult time. Despite the setback, she predicts great things for him.

“We were kind of kidding him,” she said. “‘If you can come in 10th while you’ve got cancer, think of what you can do without it.’”

Aside from McDowell’s situation, things are going swimmingly for Dix.

Before the season, she’d had her doubts about Prospect’s future in water polo this spring. While the Knights had a solid group of seniors returning, including Tori Shields, Tatiana Hayes and Lisa Mazur, they also had a new varsity coach in Alfonso Lopez.

Dix admits to having concerns about the change, but she’s also the first to give Lopez credit for what has turned out to be an amazing season for Prospect.

“Without a doubt, he’s the reason we haven’t lost,” said Dix. “He came in and showed us right away he knew what he was doing.”

The Knights are among two undefeated teams in the state and have 15 wins. They ended Wheeling’s two-year run of East Division championships and will face Fremd next week to decide the Mid-Suburban League title.

Dix has scored an astounding 311 goals in her four-year varsity career, more than three times as many as the next most productive career scorer at Prospect.

When her high school days are over, Dix will attend Golden West College, a two-year school in Huntington Beach, Calif. The idea is to continuing play water polo and see if she can find a four-year school interested in her talents.

For now, though, the focus remains on improving her friend’s predicament.

On Thursday, Prospect will host Buffalo Grove in the final home game of Dix’s prolific water polo career in Wheeling’s pool. T-shirts have been on sale at both Prospect and BG all week, more will be available at the game, and donations will be accepted on site. The varsity contest starts at 6 p.m., with JV to follow.

Dix knows she is doing all she can.

Again.

“Last year, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Dix said. “It helps having gone through it once before. This year, I feel like I kind of know what I’m doing.”