BATTLE CREEK – The girls on the volleyball team thought maybe one of their coaches was pregnant. That would have been incredibly happy news.
What they found out was quite different. The news about their coach, was about as far away from that as you can get.
Hannah Belote, who is a coach in the Pennfield volleyball program, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last May, leaving the Panther community shocked.
“She was sick a lot and had a lot of the symptoms you see when you are pregnant. So, us girls, we all thought she was pregnant,” said Pennfield senior captain Avery Hock. “When we found out what was really happening, it was really, really upsetting. She is such a great person. Just couldn’t stand seeing something like that happen to her. It seems like bad things seem to always happen to the best people.”
Belote is the freshman volleyball coach for Pennfield, but has been away from her team all season as she has been getting treatments to deal with her diagnosis.
“It was May 17. She just went in for some routine blood work and after she got home, the doctor called her and said she had to come back right away. She was in the hospital that night getting treatments,” said Pennfield varsity coach Brooke Wells. “It was a shock to everybody. She is 28 years old. Totally healthy. It was just so surprising. We just couldn’t believe it.”