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Feb. 19, 2010

AUDIO: Coach Summitt talks about Monday's "Live Pink, Bleed Orange" game against LSU

BY DREW EDWARDS
UTLadyVols.com

KNOXVILLE -- On Monday night, Thompson-Boling Arena will be a sea of pink.

From the stands to the Lady Vols' uniforms - even to some of the shoes players will wear on the court - pink will take the place of orange for a night, all in the name of raising breast cancer awareness and money for research.

And all of it will make Liza Graves will smile.

"All of the support that's out there now, last year seeing the chairs covered in pink, you couldn't help but be amazed," Graves said.

LSU's visit to Knoxville for an 8 p.m. tip on Monday marks the third `Live Pink, Bleed Orange' event for Tennessee, but Graves' history with the Lady Vols and breast cancer goes back much farther.

A Knoxville native, Graves played three seasons of basketball at Tennessee from 1974-78, including her last three seasons with current assistant coach Holly Warlick. Graves went on become a nurse at Children's Hospital, where she's been for the last 28 years.

But in the fall of 1996, she went from nurse to patient after being diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.

"A friend of mine who I worked with who lost her mother to breast cancer knew that I had lost my mother to cancer and that I had not had a mammogram," Graves said. "She actually made the appointment for me to go, or I don't know if I would have ever gone to get one."

The test revealed that Graves, who had a strong family history of cancer, had tumors in both breasts. The disease had even spread to some nearby lymph nodes.

"I think a lot of that I owe to having played for Pat, and just everything she taught us as players and as women," "The determination, the never-give-up attitude really served me well when I was going through that."

Graves underwent five months of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, but she's been cancer-free since April 1997.

Over the last 13 years, she's become active with Susan G. Komen for The Cure. She's a Lady Vols season-ticket holder. She's also an avid runner. Since her diagnosis and treatment, Graves has run several marathons and 5Ks. She's even run a few 31-mile "ultra" races as well.

"Every year is a blessing," said Graves, 53. "Most people, we don't want to get old. But it's better than the alternative."

So is the increased awareness of breast cancer and the importance of early detection, something that Graves had to overcome in her own battle against the disease.

"I think it is way cool," Graves said. "Pat has been very involved. She's done a lot of stuff with Komen. She's spoken at the survivor's luncheon. She's been at a lot of the races, as has a lot of the team.

"In the 13 years that I have been diagnosed, it has been overwhelming the amount of money raised for research and the organizations that are now involved, including the college ranks and seeing the pink uniforms and all of that."

So far, Tennessee has raised more than $53,000 for local breast cancer charities and hospitals through its "Live Pink, Bleed Orange" event. The University Breast Center Mobile Mammography Unit will be at the arena Monday night from 5-7 p.m., and members of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will be on hand to collect donations as well.

"It is so needed and will continue to be needed until a cure is found," Graves said. "Women need to be aware of their bodies and any changes. Be very diligent about that. The more things we can get breast cancer awareness out to, that needs to be happening more and more."