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The Mid-County community comes together to show support for Coach diagnosed with cancer

The Mid-county community is coming together to show support for Coach Spikes Sturdivant who was diagnosed with sinus cancer in March.

The Mid-county community is coming together to show support for Coach Spikes Sturdivant who was diagnosed with sinus cancer in March.

The 52-year old man is a P.E. teacher at Groves elementary school and a former cross country and soccer coach at Port Neches Groves High School.

His family found out he had cancer after a doctor found a tumor during sinus surgery. When Sturdivant went back to have more scans doctors found a large inoperable cancerous tumor and found out he had Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Doctors also found cancer in the lymph nodes in his neck.

To show the coach support, several of his former athletes from cross country decided to put together “Coach Sturdivant's 5K for the fight.”

“The race was really the idea of all of us cross country guys, I actually got a message from them and there was a huge group of them that unanimously decided that was the right thing to do for him," said race organizer Jason Hanley.

"We always ran 5K’s for him and this was the right thing to do to raise money, awareness and support.”

After seven weeks of chemotherapy and 35 radiation treatments the coach is now recovering at home. It’s hard for him to speak and he uses a feeding tube but he is still in good spirits.

His wife, Misty, said they are blessed by all the support from friends, family and god throughout this process.

“He’s one of those people in my life that I look back to that growing up he made me learn that I was stronger than I thought I was through racing and through distance racing that we did," said Hanley.

"That's what I see even more right now, is the strength that they have going through this hard time and their faith and how humble they are through it all,” said Hanley.

The race will take place at Port Neches Groves High School at June 23rd at 7 a.m. There is also a silent auction that will take the morning of the race through June 29 until 8 p.m. You can stop by the Wheelhouse on June 23rd from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to make your bid on items. You can also made your bid on the #Sturdivantstrong Facebook page.

Hanley said the support for the race has been overwhelming.

“The support has been incredible, I mean I got more volunteers than we could ever ask for a ton of support with people registering I have people registering for the race that said they will be out of town but are registering to support it,” said Hanley.

Hanley said Coach Sturdivant not only made an impact on him as a coach but also as a mentor.

“He just taught me that I was stronger than I thought I was and to be strong and that’s a lesson I’m still learning from him now,” said Hanley.

Coach Sturdivant will have scans on June 27 and gamma knife radiation on July 2.

To register for the race click here. All of the money raised will go towards medical costs.

Sturdivant has two daughters a grandchild and another grandchild on the way.

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