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By Pauline Masson –
When Pacific Middle School Girls Basketball Head Coach Melanie Missey was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was reluctant to share too much with the young athletes she coached. But she soon learned that their knowing would result in an outpouring of the respect and love that she always knew that they had.
“At first I didn’t want to share too much. I thought it would be hard for them to comprehend,” Coach Missey said.
“They have always shown respect for one another and for me. And once I began to talk about it with them, every day, one by one they stopped by my office to see how I was doing,” Coach Missey said. “They made me stay positive.”
The young athletes did more than a daily, “how are you doing,” with their coach. They started talking about an event to raise awareness about breast cancer in honor her bravery. They turned to eighth grade basketball coach Cody Kelley to help them organize a public demonstration.
Coach Kelley was doubly aware of the prevalence and challenges of breast cancer as his mother Alderman Debbie Kelley also waged a battle against breast cancer at the same time as Coach Missey.
Alderman Debbie Kelley said seeing teenage girls raising awareness for breast cancer was step forward in women’s health.
“They’re too young to qualify for mammograms, but just living through this with Coach Missey helped make them aware of their own health.” Alderman Kelley said. “They will never forget this. This was positive for all women’s health issues.”
MVR-III athletes have dedicated a series of games to breast cancer in recent seasons to raise awareness of the disease. But with Coach Kelley chairng the event, the middle school basketball players took the term Pink Out to a new level.
Pink tee shirts filled the Riverbend School gym Oct. 26 as the 7th and 8th grade girls basketball teams from Pacific and Union – and their supporters – dedicated the game night to Coach Missey and Alderman Kelley, and all breast cancer warriors.
“The girls took the title “warrior” rather than victim because they saw how Coach Missey just kept her chin up and kept going,” Coach Kelley said
“Coach Missey and Alderman Kelley served as honorary captains for the Pacific Lady Indians as they both have ties to the girls basketball program,” Coach Kelley said. Union honorary captain was Jamie Koch Teacher for Union.
Coach Cody Kelley was joined by his cousin Nick Kelley, Union seventh grade girls basketball coach, who said his athletes would like to join the Pink Out and the coaches set a date for a game night when the two school would be playing each other. Honorary game night captains and the Pacific middle school Cheer Team also donned pink tee shirts to join the event.
“We practice together so the girls all know each other,”Cody Kelley said. “So it was easy to put it all together. ”
“Both of these ladies have been great examples for our athletes with the resilience and fight they have shown, just like so many other breast cancer warriors out there have,” Coach Kelley said. “Melanie as Head Varsity coach was in charge of the whole program.”
“Everybody pitched in to round up the sizes for us, all four teams, the Union coaches, cheer coaches, and honorary team captains,” he said. “In all there were a little over 100 tee shirts needed.”
The Pacific Jaycees, Meramec Valley R-III Sports Club and Trophies Ts and More shared the cost of the tee shirts for all four teams, their coaches, and cheer teams. Coach Kelley worked with all the participants to collect the needed shirt sizes. He also sketched out a possible Pink Out logo for the shirts that he turned over to a former classmate.
PHS Alumna Katie Gracin used Coach Kelley’s pencil sketch to design the digital graphic work for the Pink Out logo. Trophies T’s and More made the shirts and contributed to the cost of the shirts.
“I would like to say how great and supportive Union athletes and coaches were,” Coach Kelley said. ”Also Union coaching staff did a great job getting me shirt sizes and making it a lot easier to organize.”
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my parents,” he said. “They were in on this from the very beginning. They bought flowers for the event and cheered eveybody on.”
It turned out that Coach Missie and Alderman Kelley were diagnosed as cancer free in the weeks before the Pink Out.
As always OUR STUDENTS SHINE!!!