Sports have a way of uniting communities — and Ooltewah High School’s volleyball team demonstrated that spirit with its annual “Pink Out” game supporting breast cancer awareness.

Elaine Peigen has been Ooltewah’s head volleyball coach for more than three decades. In 2003, she faced one of the toughest challenges of her life when a routine mammogram led to a breast cancer diagnosis.

“I went for my yearly mammogram and ultimately had to go have an ultrasound done and it was, they said it’s breast cancer,” Peigen recalled.

She underwent months of radiation therapy, followed by a mastectomy the next year. Throughout her treatment, she says she leaned on the support of her family, friends and school community.

“I was able to go do radiation, come back to work — we had it all worked out,” sh

See Full Page