Punching Back

A historic color scheme from one of the most prestigious HBCU’s in the country, fans loyally line 700 Park Avenue in green and gold on fall Saturdays, producing one of the best gameday atmospheres in Virginia on a consistent basis.

Amongst what is sure to be a legion of Spartan faithful this Saturday against former MEAC rival North Carolina A&T State, masses of supporters from both sides will sport a contrasting pink in lieu of their school colors, supporting the afternoon’s special focus: Breast Cancer Awareness Day. 

Now a frequent theme at sporting events across the country, Breast Cancer Awareness games provide an excellent opportunity to increase knowledge surrounding a disease that has impacted countless families, while also taking the opportunity to honor those who’ve survived breast cancer, those actively fighting, and those who have lost their lives to the disease. 

But for two members of the Norfolk State athletic department, the October Breast Cancer Awareness theme resonates a bit extra. Director of Athletics Melody Webb and head volleyball coach Kathy Bullock have each faced their own trying battles with the illness, displaying incredible strength and perseverance each step of the way.

Bullock remembers the day of her 2001 diagnosis like it was yesterday. 

Preparing for the upcoming volleyball season, her ninth at the helm of her alma mater North Carolina A&T, Bullock went to see her doctor for what she expected to be a routine check-up. With no family history of breast cancer, she indifferently obliged when her gynecologist advised her to get a mammogram, recommended for anyone over the age of 35.

The test and ensuing diagnosis were shocking. Suddenly, her entire life had been thrown into peril in what felt like seconds.

“It was surreal,” Bullock said. “I was athletic, in good health, had no symptoms at all. I thought ‘this can’t be true.”

Bullock comes from a decorated family of athletes. Her sister, Kim Graham-Miller, earned a gold medal in the 4x400 relay for Team USA at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Her brother, Jay Graham, played in the NFL for five years and has enjoyed a successful coaching career at the Power 5 level. 

Their reaction? Time to beat this thing.

“They said we’re Graham’s, we’re winners, we’re champions,” Bullock said. “It was like, ‘Okay cool, what’s next? What do we have to do. Nobody really showed me their emotions, so that helped me be strong.”

Wasting no time, doctors performed a mastectomy on Bullock just days after delivering the news. Thankfully, the cancer had not spread to other parts of her body, and she was declared cancer free. The medical staff would tell her that if she had waited just six weeks, she would have died.

Although moments of reflection certainly came and went where Bullock would wonder, ‘Why me?’ That thought process would normally turn into a sense of motivation and will to survive, powered by her two-year-old daughter.

“I told myself I have to get better for her, there’s no way that I’m going to leave this earth when my daughter is two years old,” Bullock said. “So I fought.”

Within days of her surgery, Bullock was back on the sidelines, preparing for the upcoming season. Telling her staff and players what she went through, the team rallied around her, putting together an exceptional 2001 campaign. The Aggies finished the year 24-16, which remains the school’s single-season wins record.

“It was a great experience,” Bullock said. “They helped me get through it, and I’m still close to those players today because of the whole scenario. They were just excited that I actually went through that and came back, it was like ‘if you can do that, then we can do anything!” 

14 years after battling her own breast cancer, Bullock had to endure an even tougher challenge: watching the disease’s impact on her closest companion, her mother – Loretta Mayshack was diagnosed in 2015.

Mayshack’s disease had spread to other areas of her body, making it much more severe than Bullock’s case. As her mother’s primary caretaker, Bullock spent countless hours at the hospital with her as she underwent chemotherapy treatment.

“I was there through the whole process,” Bullock said. “My mom was maybe my size or bigger and I saw her go all the way down to about 97 pounds. It was a hard situation.”

After a brave four-year battle, Mayshack passed away while in end-of-life care in 2019. Earlier that day, Norfolk State had taken down Morgan State 3-0 to pick up its first win of the fall in her daughter’s first season at the helm. A triumphant, emotional Bullock went straight to the rehab facility to inform her mother of the news.

“Before I could get home, they called me to tell her that she had passed away,” she said. “That was extremely devastating for me. Even though she’d been transitioning for about three days, I still thought that she was going to be okay.”

The Norfolk State community uplifted Bullock during her most vulnerable moments after her mother's passing. Alisha Tucker, her immediate supervisor, attended the funeral in North Carolina while Marty Miller, NSU's athletic director at the time, contributed to the costs of the service.

“That was very special for me,” Bullock said. “I was very happy about how they supported me.”

Webb received her breast cancer diagnosis in July of 2022, just two years after becoming the ninth director of athletics at Norfolk State, the first female to hold the role.

Like Bullock, Webb had no prior family history of the disease, although she had seen the tragic impact of it before. Earlier in her career, an important person in her life had breast cancer, eventually passing away after a courageous fight.

“She was a dear friend, co-worker, and colleague who had a lovely spirit and was a complete fireball,” Webb said. “I miss her.”

Webb’s diagnosis came during the most trying stretch of her life. Within the last 10 months, she had lost her grandmother to cancer and mother to COVID-19. 

“As the caregiver for my parent and grandparents, that in itself was a journey and a challenge,” she said. “I personally feel God placed me in a position and built me up to handle this diagnosis with grace and strength.”

While her initial reaction to her own diagnosis was disappointment, she had begun mentally preparing for the possibility, after studying her previous medical summaries in MyChart.

A three-sport standout athlete at Savannah State, Webb has never had an issue maintaining a competitive chip on her shoulder; it came naturally.  That productive mindset kicked straight into gear when her doctors gave the news, her first thought: “What’s next?”

“The analytical side of me took over,” she said. “I remember they kept expecting a different reaction, but I was over the discussion. I had a three-way conversation with my aunt so she could hear and ask the questions she wanted to ask, and then I went home and told the family.”

Finding the motivation to battle the disease came easily, it was a trait instilled in Webb throughout her athletic and professional career. But part of that resilience, which might have come more reluctantly, was giving herself the necessary time and self-care to accept the struggle and emotions that come with life’s largest hurdles. It was something Webb had learned after the passing of her mother.

“I had to trust the process, rely on God, put in the work, do the research, focus on outcomes, be resilient, learn how to pivot, and learn when to be still,” Webb said. “A friend sent me an article after my mom’s passing called, ‘Black Women, It Is Okay To Let Go Of Your Cape.’ It was powerful because it just spoke to reclaiming yourself and knowing that it’s okay. It’s okay to be still.”

Outside of her family and closest friends, Webb limited who she shared the news with. She told Norfolk State President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, as well as her senior administration, but wouldn’t disclose the information to the rest of her department until almost a year later.

She did reach out, however, to someone in the department who could empathize with the fight she was about to embark on. That volleyball coach was happy to answer all of the questions she had.

“I told her, ‘I survived, you can too,” Bullock said. “I showed her my scar, and explained what the process was like.”

Webb underwent her surgery in September, returning to work soon after without skipping a beat. The next steps included weekly doctor's visits in Richmond, requiring frequent long-distance road trips before heading back to the office.

She continued to perform her job with the calculated precision and confident decision-making that had gotten her to the historic position in the first place, refusing to allow the outside stresses to hinder her impact at the university. 

The Spartans added four MEAC Championships to their trophy case last academic year, while landing a record 109 student-athletes on the MEAC Commissioner’s All-Academic Team. Additionally, Webb unveiled a state-of-the-art sports performance simulator, enhanced football locker room, and high-resolution volleyball video board.

“I know how to compartmentalize,” Webb said. “It’s not to say that I don’t get emotional when I go home, but I try to focus on work when I’m at work. I know they do often intercede with each other, but for the most part, I’m able to manage it and be okay.”

When thousands of fans don pink ribbons on Saturday in support of breast cancer survivors around the world, the message it sends can prove much more impactful than one might think.

Health awareness campaigns increase public knowledge regarding many different subjects, knowledge that can have life-or-death implications. Webb knows that from experience: the previous information she’d gathered about breast cancer helped her recognize the lump that would lead to her diagnosis.

“It’s important to know what to look for,” she said. “With breast cancer, for example, we’ve talked about that at our events, we have information packets that go out. I found my lump and that wouldn’t have happened had I not paid attention to the lessons that I’ve learned and overheard throughout the years."

Bullock hopes for similar enthusiasm from the school’s fanbase when the Norfolk State volleyball team plays its Breast Cancer Awareness game on Friday, Oct. 6, against Coppin State at Gill Gymnasium. The Spartans come into the important matchup on fire, picking up dominant wins over North Carolina Central and South Carolina State last weekend.

“It’s not going to be easy because Coppin is playing really well,” Bullock said. “That’s why I picked that weekend, because we’re playing some teams where we’ll need that extra boost.”

Previous iterations of the event have gathered breast cancer survivors together, with Webb emphasizing the importance of “strength in numbers.” She’s also had the chance to hear admirable experiences from peers that have fought the disease.

“One of our sponsors shared her story at the Breast Cancer Awareness volleyball game and it really helped just to see some things differently,” Webb said. “Then, we have a board member who shared her plight and the sincerity in which she speaks and the tips she gave also made a huge difference on my outlook. You don’t know what you don’t know or what questions to ask, so listening to them and getting advice on questions to ask helped me through the process.”

Those annual breast cancer awareness events take on extra meaning for Webb and Bullock, but the latter tries not to let that impact her preparation for the game. She appreciates the meaning and message of that game but knows letting it become too much of a focus on the court can result in a distracted performance.

“It makes it a little more emotional, but I’m a ‘lock-in’ kind of coach,” Bullock said. “I just want to play the game and win the game. I’m kind of a tunnel vision coach.”

At the end of the day, she’s embraced her own strength and the battle she’s faced to get here today. Bullock doesn’t consider herself a victim, she’s a survivor.

“It drove me to be stronger, it drove me to be the best,” she said. “It drove me even more than I had been before. If you can survive this, then you can survive anything.”