Mullen Is Revealing Her Winning Nature

NEWPORT BEACH — The moussed hair that creates an electric-shock effect is a far cry from the short, soft tufts of hair on Molli Mullen’s head seven months ago, when her chemotherapy sessions ended.

“I just thought it was funny looking,” she said. “If I have to have short hair for a while, I might as well have fun with it, because I guarantee, it’s not going to stay short.”

That hair--big hair, by her standards--might be as representative as anything about Mullen’s spirit. She celebrated--actually had a party with all her young friends she met at Children’s Hospital of Orange County--on April 29, the one year anniversary of the day she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. Stronger, healthier, as competitive as ever, she will be the starting pitcher for the Newport Harbor softball team today when it hosts Corona del Mar.

The long trip back from her cancer treatments, her falling in love with the other kids who walked the halls of CHOC, and her impending move to Wilmington, Del., to attend college, have created a happy beginning to the rest of her life.

“People ask me if I could change the past so that I never had cancer, would I, and my answer would be ‘No way,’ ” Mullen said. “Unless you’ve gone through something like that, you can’t understand, but it changes your whole outlook on life. I’ve met so many people that I will never forget. I’ve had so many experiences. I think I’ve learned so much from the whole situation.

“I’ve grown more in the last year than I did in my first 17 years.”

“No one wishes they had cancer, but I’m not sorry that I did, although I can say that because I’m still here. I relatively breezed through treatments, so I’m in the minority there.”

One of her friends from at CHOC, Mitchell McKee, 5, wasn’t at Mullen’s party. He died April 17, two days after Mullen’s birthday.

Another, Mariah Gill, 8, whose fingernails Molli would paint, has had tough times with the side effects of her cancer treatments. The little girl who laughed when Mullen put a stuffed animal on her head is now deaf in one ear, partially deaf in the other. But the good news is that Mariah has had some success walking.

“First, I’m absolutely thankful about how lucky I was,” Mullen said, “and second, I hate to see her suffer like that.”

Her coach, Mike Mullen, is also her dad. The family, including youngest daughter Maggie, had to deal with Molli’s cancer four months after Cindi Mullen--the wife and mother--died from complications from ulcer surgery.

Mike Mullen says he has been most impressed with Molli’s maturity, “the complete change in attitude.”

“She’s grown out of being a selfish teenager and has a completely different outlook on life,” he said. “An attitude that the guy who cuts you off on the freeway, the grade you didn’t get, really isn’t as important as being there, breathing.

“Those things are really the most important thing in life--being able to live and living it. There are so many little frustrations in life that aren’t worth getting upset about.”

However, Molli says losing to Corona del Mar would be one of those big frustrations. Newport Harbor is 9-11 this season, 1-7 in the Sea View League, which has four teams ranked in the county’s top 10 poll.

Mullen is 4-5 with a 2.60 earned-run average in 43 innings. She still has good control, and Mike Mullen says she’s about 95% of where she was before the cancer.

She is batting .412 in league, .333 overall. She got off to a slow start because of her strength; she would often get winded running to first base. She has no extra-base hits. But she is working out in the gym three to five times a week and is taking hitting lessons.

“I think she has a lot of pride in herself and wants to do well in the last couple of games,” Mike Mullen said.

Only two games remain--Corona del Mar today and third-ranked Woodbridge on Thursday. Then, Mullen’s high school career will be over and so will her father’s coaching career at Newport Harbor. He plans to resign after the season.

But Mullen will continue to play at Goldey Beacom College, an NAIA school in Delaware that just finished fourth out of 52 teams in its regional tournament.

Gerry Szabo, Goldey Beacom coach, said he was stunned when Mike Mullen called him to deliver the news about Molli’s cancer.

“I shut up for a second, then I said if my college didn’t back me up, I’d probably quit,” recalled Szabo, who just completed his eighth year at Goldey Beacom and 30th as a coach.

“You meet people every once in awhile who have something going on inside, there’s an energy. There’s something behind her eyes. She’s note walking through life but is making things happen.

“She’s a remarkable kid. No matter what we give Molli, I’m sure we’ll get back tenfold.”