Rivals Cascade and Everett team up against cancer

Published 11:34 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2009

EVERETT — Cascade High School’s Reg Scodeller gymnasium overflowed with the color pink.

Pink signs, pink balloons, pink jerseys, pink Baden volleyballs — for one night, a special event took center stage in a meeting of cross-town rivals.

Born of a former Cascade student-athlete’s desire to spread breast cancer awareness and honor head coach Wendy Close, a breast cancer survivor, Cascade’s third annual Dig for the Cure event and match against rival Everett High took place Tuesday night at Cascade High.

Before the match, Cascade players paid tribute to all cancer survivors in attendance, including Close and her sister Mary Eldridge.

Close’s breast cancer has been in remission for three years and Eldridge, diagnosed with breast cancer a little more than a year ago, underwent a double mastectomy in December 2008. She is still undergoing further treatment and maintains a remarkably positive attitude considering her family’s struggles with the disease.

Eldridge lost her husband, Ray, in June following a five-year battle with gastric cancer. She supported and cared for Ray, an event coordinator at the Kingdome for 25 years until it was demolished, even during her own troubles with breast cancer.

“I was so involved with him, for me, it was a no-brainer, I just did what I had to do,” Eldridge, who sang the Star-Spangled Banner to open the match, said of balancing her cancer treatment with caring for Ray. “It was tough, but it never was about me.

“I don’t have any intention to let it (cancer) beat me,” she added.

For the first time, the event featured a silent auction with quilts, blankets and volleyballs donated by Everett and Cascade High parents.

“Last year we raised between $2,000 and $3,000,” Close said. “This year we could do that and more.”

The Western Conference North Division match, which featured both squads decked out in pink uniforms and a crowd filled with pink and black “Dig for the Cure” T-shirts, rotates between Cascade and Everett each year to promote awareness for breast cancer and, when at Everett High, prostate cancer.

And for Everett head coach Heather McLeod, the event has an added importance because of her long history with Close.

“I played for her back in middle school and played for her in high school,” said McLeod, Everett’s coach for 11 years. “So when she was diagnosed, it hit hard, and to know that it’s hitting her family again this year with her sister and everything else, it’s great to be a part of it outside of just volleyball and to see our volleyball community doing something more to give back.”

Even though death rates among women afflicted with breast cancer has been declining since the early 1990s, according to the American Cancer Society, the chance of a woman contracting breast cancer is still just below one in eight nationally.

McLeod said the match is special at both schools, but added that it’s very meaningful at Cascade.

“When it’s here it means so much more because of Wendy,” McLeod said.

The coaches said that because the event is planned largely by the players, it helps heighten the sense of importance with an issue usually lost among high-schoolers.

“It’s nice to do something above and beyond,” McLeod said. “I think it’s good to show the girls that, too, because they don’t get involved in stuff like this outside of school, so for us to bring it here and give them a chance to be a part of it is really cool.”

“It’s great to see the kids involved and I think it makes them more aware,” Eldridge said. “It’s just heart-warming.”

Danielle Love, a Cascade senior co-captain and University of Oregon basketball commit, said the team knows the importance of breast cancer and was glad to be a part of the event. The freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams all took a day off practice to make signs and coordinate other decorations and plans for the event.

“It shows how giving we all our and how much our school gives back to the community,” Love said.