REGIONS/GRASSR OO TS Dig Pink hits home
Breast cancer awareness month takes on new significance for Badger Region official
By Scott Blackmon Badger Region Volleyball Association At-Large Board Representative
OCTOBER REPRESENTS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS, AND for the volleyball world, it’s Dig Pink time. For years, I enjoyed the novel- ty that is Dig Pink. Pink shoe laces, pink jerseys, pink towels, headbands, hair ties; if it can be dyed it has been seen in a girls’ volleyball match. I am one of the replay technicians for the University of Wisconsin
women’s matches. This year, as people held their pink towels and I stood for the National Anthem in my pink bow-tie for Wisconsin’s version of Dig Pink against University of Illinois, for the first time, Dig Pink wasn’t a novelty. It was very real for myself and my family. Two days after that match my wife was scheduled for a double mas-
tectomy. This article likely comes as a surprise to many. I’m not known for sharing too much of my personal life even to some of my closer friends. However, in light of Dig Pink and the fact that I’ve coached hundreds of girls over the last 20-plus years, this is important. Not my story but the subject of it. I have worked camps from coast to coast every summer for the last 15 years — hundreds of kids each summer on top of my own club team dur- ing the club season. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. Not counting my camp kids, statistically I will eventually have worked with over 20 women who will come down with breast cancer. Throw in kids from camp and the number is staggering for me. In 2016, the Badger Region boasted 9,130 junior fe-
Scott Blackmon
male athletes. That works out to 1,141 young women in our sport alone coming down with breast cancer at some point in their life. That scares me, and it is way too many. I’m writing this article from the waiting room, my third visit to the hospital since early October. I’m writing this article exactly nine years and one day after losing my father to lung cancer. When I went through this with my father I saw it coming. My father had smoked since 12 years old. I knew how things were going to end up. I was prepared for the news and, ultimately, the outcome. Breast cancer is different. It hit us like a ton of bricks. I spent the first week-and-a-half having minor, quiet, meltdowns and sharing it with no one. I was terrified; more terrified for our two children than anything else. Nothing prepared me for telling my 15-year-old son his mother had breast cancer. My wife was tasked with telling our daughter who was just getting ready to leave and head back to college in Florida. We learned of my wife’s cancer back in August. Three lumps were found in one of her breasts. Initially, after some tests, the news was great, and then it wasn’t. One of the tests came back as positive with HER-2. Without getting into the science of it, just understand that isn’t great news. My wife didn’t hesitate with her decision. She asked for a double mastectomy and things went into motion fairly quickly. After the first surgery, the news was great, and then it wasn’t, again. There was some concern with what they call “margins.” Again, without getting into the science (and because I’m a moron), just know that’s also not great news. She was scheduled for a second surgery only two weeks after her first
surgery to clear out some more tissue. The news has been very positive since then. The medical crew feels good that all of the cancer has been re-
56 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
A bright pink court at USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships helps bring awareness to breast cancer beyond the month of October. (Photo: Texas Star)
moved but chemo and immunotherapy is still on the horizon just to seal the deal. My horrible cliché, not theirs. Today she is in surgery to have her chemo port placed into her chest and then it’s on to those long hours in the chair getting chemo for the next several months. My family has a long road ahead, but all signs are good. I know we
are extremely lucky so far as this whole mess of breast cancer is con- cerned. Many others aren’t. Like the slogan says, “Cancer Sucks.” It’s not a journey we choose, it chooses us. It doesn’t care how old you are. It doesn’t care how good of a human being you are. It takes us all by the hand and forces us to walk with it. Why am I sharing all of this? It’s a me thing more than anything else. I almost didn’t tell anyone and then I decided I would let my assistant know just in case I lost my mind during the upcoming club season. Then I felt I should really tell my closer friends who are also all coaches. I then realized this is important. It’s important because of what I do and who I work with in that gym.
It’s important to remember that wearing pink isn’t a novelty. It’s impor- tant to remember wearing pink is a reminder that we have a long way to go with treating breast cancer. Wearing pink is a reminder that we have already lost way too many to breast cancer. Wearing pink means remem- bering nobody is immune to being affected by breast cancer. Wearing pink is a reminder that moms and girls alike need to take the necessary steps to take care of their bodies as it pertains to breast health care and as husbands, brothers and the like, we need to annoy the heck out of them to do it. Most of all, wearing pink means looking out for those 1,141 young
female volleyball players in Badger Region that will eventually need our full love and support.
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