‘A whirlwind’: Bend and Caldera volleyball teams hold ‘Pink-Out’ for coach battling breast cancer

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend High volleyball team hosted Caldera Wednesday night for a "Pink Out," in honor of a coach battling back from breast cancer, and to raise awareness during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Both teams are rallying around Coach Kaci Cox.

The 23-year-old assistant at Bend was diagnosed with breast cancer just last year.

She's made it through the most difficult part of her journey, but now wants to help others.

“Whenever anyone hears cancer, they freak out -- rightfully so,” Cox said.

The 2018 Bend High grad started coaching volleyball at her alma mater last fall.

A few months into the season, she felt a lump while in the shower.

A former teammate's Instagram post about self-breast exams inspired her to take another look, and she went to East Cascades Women's Group.

“‘This isn’t common for your age, but I’m going to send you in, just in case,’ Cox said she was told. “Thank goodness that she did.”

A few days later, she got the phone call no one ever wants to get.

“Saying that I have Stage 2 breast cancer,” Cox said of her phone call. “After that, it's just kind of been a whirlwind.”

Since then, she’s endured six chemo treatments, six hormone treatments, three surgeries, hair loss, mood swings and a number of other complications.

“It was a difficult time for me and my family,” Cox said, holding back tears. “I’m here now, and I’m so grateful for that.”

Cox “made it over the hump,” as she puts it, rallying around her friends, family and the volleyball community.

While playing at Bend, Cox was coached by now-Caldera head Coach Alicia Roe and current Bend High head Coach Kristin Cooper.

“She’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met, I’ve ever coached,” Roe said. “Mentally, physically, she’s always that go-to person.”

Cooper reflected on her relationship with Cox.

“Kaci was a really special player,” Cooper said. “She started coming to our camps when she was in third grade, so I’ve known her for a long time.”

Cox won back-to-back state titles with Bend High and played collegiately at Eastern Oregon.

She now works as a counseling secretary at Caldera, and coached their varsity players in club volleyball last winter.

Cox says she wants to use the attention she’s getting with this Pink-Out to encourage other girls and women to get their bodies checked, even if they feel they’re too young to have breast cancer.

"It's a scary thing, and a lot of people think that it can’t happen to them, like I did,” Cox said. “If I can help one person, then that’s all that matters to me."

As part of the Pink-Out, both teams sold special pink T-shirts, with the proceeds going to Heaven Can Wait, a fundraiser for Sara's Project, and Cox’s charity of choice.