PART I
Charlotte basketball star with multiple D1 offers facing new battle — a rare cancer.
By Langston Wertz Jr
When doctors told Tony Busby his 17-year-old daughter had cancer, he said he felt like time just stopped.
“I’m like ‘God, just give it to me versus her,’” Busby told the Observer. “The biggest concern I had, and like I told her, ‘I just wanted to know that you were going to be around, that we could see you get married and have the wonderful life you are supposed to have and be the person that Christ made you to be.’ That’s my only concern.”
For weeks, Tony Busby, the head girls basketball coach at Charlotte Christian School, wasn’t sure what was wrong with his daughter. But finally, about two weeks ago, the family got an answer: Breya has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer that means months of chemotherapy and time away from basketball.
Breya, a Charlotte Christian junior, had always been a basketball star. She can run forever. She has so many Division I offers that Tony Busby and Breya have to think before offering up how many.
But beginning last month, Breya started to be different. The flu had gone through the Busby household, and it had gone through the Knights’ team, too. So when Breya couldn’t shake a cold, everybody thought maybe it was that. Later, doctors gave her iron pills, and an inhaler when the symptoms lingered, thinking it was exercise-induced asthma.
Breya, though, never got better.
During a game against Covenant Day Jan. 16, Breya doubled over. Her teammates helped her walk to the locker room. Tony Busby rushed his daughter to the emergency room. They got there by 8:45 p.m.
They didn’t leave the hospital for a week.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in the bone marrow, according to the American Cancer Society. It is rare, accounting for less than one percent of all cancers in the U.S.
“When the doctors told me,” Breya said, “I looked at the doctors and said, ‘That’s not right.’ But they brought me to Levine’s Children’s Hospital and they told me again. I just started crying. I didn’t know what to think.”
In Breya’s case, according to her father, the doctors told them the cancer is treatable. He said doctors expect Breya to make a full recovery. According to the St. Jude’s website, 98 percent of kids with acute lymphoblastic leukemia “go into remission within weeks after starting treatment.”
Charlotte basketball star with multiple D1 offers facing new battle — a rare cancer.
By Langston Wertz Jr
When doctors told Tony Busby his 17-year-old daughter had cancer, he said he felt like time just stopped.
“I’m like ‘God, just give it to me versus her,’” Busby told the Observer. “The biggest concern I had, and like I told her, ‘I just wanted to know that you were going to be around, that we could see you get married and have the wonderful life you are supposed to have and be the person that Christ made you to be.’ That’s my only concern.”
For weeks, Tony Busby, the head girls basketball coach at Charlotte Christian School, wasn’t sure what was wrong with his daughter. But finally, about two weeks ago, the family got an answer: Breya has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer that means months of chemotherapy and time away from basketball.
Breya, a Charlotte Christian junior, had always been a basketball star. She can run forever. She has so many Division I offers that Tony Busby and Breya have to think before offering up how many.
But beginning last month, Breya started to be different. The flu had gone through the Busby household, and it had gone through the Knights’ team, too. So when Breya couldn’t shake a cold, everybody thought maybe it was that. Later, doctors gave her iron pills, and an inhaler when the symptoms lingered, thinking it was exercise-induced asthma.
Breya, though, never got better.
During a game against Covenant Day Jan. 16, Breya doubled over. Her teammates helped her walk to the locker room. Tony Busby rushed his daughter to the emergency room. They got there by 8:45 p.m.
They didn’t leave the hospital for a week.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in the bone marrow, according to the American Cancer Society. It is rare, accounting for less than one percent of all cancers in the U.S.
“When the doctors told me,” Breya said, “I looked at the doctors and said, ‘That’s not right.’ But they brought me to Levine’s Children’s Hospital and they told me again. I just started crying. I didn’t know what to think.”
In Breya’s case, according to her father, the doctors told them the cancer is treatable. He said doctors expect Breya to make a full recovery. According to the St. Jude’s website, 98 percent of kids with acute lymphoblastic leukemia “go into remission within weeks after starting treatment.”
