"If you can get your mind off of [the cancer], I think that's the way to do it. It didn't consume me."

Part of the reason for Delaney-Smith's success was the tremendous outpouring of support she received from the team.

"I have said it before and I will say it again: the players on this team were a tremendous source of energy and life for me," Delaney-Smith said. "I feel bad that my sister doesn't have the same type of job."

Still, Delaney-Smith was initially wary of breaking the news to the team last December.

"The team, I think, was scared, and I questioned whether I should ever have told them," Delaney-Smith said. "There was every type of reaction. Some were teary-eyed, some people were shocked."

After getting over their own fear and astonishment, however, the players were able to play a reassuring role that fit perfectly with Delaney-Smith's personality.

"I asked them to have humor about it," Delaney-Smith said. "They played along. They worked so hard, probably too hard. I think they and I will remember them for the rest of my life."

At present, Delaney-Smith is using the drug tamoxifen, which she will continue to take for the next five years. Only 15 percent of the population tests positive to go on the drug, but for those who do, it significantly increases their survival rate.