Moving away from home to start college is intimidating enough for most freshmen. When home is 2,200 miles away in another country, that move can become downright scary. But for Brenna Crockett, a forward on the Stephen F. Austin soccer team, the scariest moment didn't come until her junior season.
Early in the fall of 2008, Crockett, a native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, learned that her mother, Sharon, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. With the Ladyjacks' season heading toward Southland Conference play and her family a long plane ride away, Crockett says she's never felt so helpless in her life.
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Brenna Crockett has educated herself on cancer after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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"She called to tell me, and I knew something was wrong just by the way she sounded," Crockett said. "I knew she was scared, but she's also super stubborn and really strong. Even knowing how tough she is, it was hard. I wanted to be there for her, but I was here."
When the diagnosis came through, the cancer had advanced to Stage III. According to breastcancer.org, there are only four primary stages of breast cancer, so by Stage III, the disease is considerably advanced. The good news, in Sharon's case, was that her cancer had not spread to any other portion of her body, making it easier to attack.
Crockett says her parents made sure she had this information early in the process to help soften the blow. After the initial shock, she said, information proved to be the best medicine for helping her cope with the separation and the fear of the unknown.
"It's scary, because you hear stories about cancer all the time," she said. "The best thing I did was go online to the official breast cancer Web site and read up on everything I could find."
The news was uplifting.
"I was really upset for about a week," she said. "It was really hard because it was out of my control, but it helped just looking up things and knowing the high success rates. The more you know, the easier it is on you, I guess."
The most important thing Crockett learned in her research was how she could be of help.
"A good support system is the most important part of recovery," she said. "They've got something attacking their body from the inside, and it's very hard to deal with. You've got to be strong for them. I wasn't going to be that person breaking down in front of my mom. No way. The last thing they need is their support system crumbling."
A major part of Crockett's support system, especially early in the process, was her soccer family at SFA.
"The whole team was really there for me, coaches included," she said. "They knew I was going through a tough time, so if I was out of it, they would help cheer me up. It was like having another family."
And Crockett had to be there for her family away from home, as well. She played in all 18 games, helping the Ladyjacks to a 9-7-2 record and a tie for fourth in the Southland Conference. Along the way, she recorded four goals and four assists to finish third on the team. Crockett even earned the league's offensive player of the week award on Sept. 30 after scoring three goals and assisting on a fourth in SFA's 10-2 win over Prairie View A&M.
"Soccer is a really good release," Crockett said. "It was nice to just take your mind off of it. I knew my mom would be on the web site, watching all the games she could, following GameTracker. So I thought if I could play, I could maybe give her something that way."
Meanwhile, in Calgary, Sharon's treatment was beginning. The process started with a mastectomy, a surgical procedure during which the breast tissue is removed. Her treatment team followed up with chemotherapy to eradicate any remaining cancer cells and lessen the likelihood of the disease returning.
"I went to every chemo session with her except for her last one," Crockett said. "It was hard. She was okay the first few sessions, but that's hard on you. By the third session she was really sick, and just dead tired. She's a fighter, though."
Today, Sharon has a clean bill of health, and all her screenings have come back clean.
"It's gone, and they say the chances of it coming back are very slim," Crockett said.
Sharon has returned to her job as a nurse. She and Brenna's father, Raymond, have been traveling, and she even raised over $6,000 as part of her participation in the Weekend to End Women's Cancer in Calgary over the summer. The 2009 event featured a 60-kilometer walk and raised a total of $3 million to research and fight cancer. Crockett said her mother walked as many as 15 kilometers a day on the weekends while training for the fundraiser.
This weekend, Sharon will take part in another event geared toward the fight against breast cancer. She'll be in Nacogdoches for Friday's game against Northwestern State, when the Ladyjacks will put on several promotional activities aimed at raising breast cancer awareness.
During the game, each SFA player will wear a pink jersey with the name of a loved one who has been touched by cancer on the back. All sideline personnel will sport pink sweatshirts, and all game-worn clothing will be auctioned off during the contest in a silent auction under the Center Circle Club tent. Gift baskets from Main Street Salon will also be auctioned off. Zeta Tau Alpha sorority will be on hand with pink ribbons and other breast cancer awareness items. The field will have a giant pink ribbon painted in the center circle, and a group of breast cancer survivors will be recognized in a halftime ceremony. All proceeds from the auctions will go toward cancer research.
Crockett is one of the players responsible for initiating the awareness efforts.
"Seeing my mom contributing this soon after going through it makes me want to contribute," she said.
The message Crockett hopes to deliver is simple. She believes that the same thing that helped her through her mother's ordeal can help others avoid cancer and, hopefully, put an end to the disease one day.
"Know the facts," Crockett said. "Don't just make assumptions about it. Take the time to educate yourself."
