Women's Hoops Guru

Interview With Nicole Hesther’s Mom, Kim.

Commenting on Nicole’s return to full practice last week: “We’re excited and I’m excited for her. We were a little concerned because of side effects from the chemo and the radiation treatment concerning her lungs, because she had been struggling with her wind.

“But the doctor told her we have a lot of lung we don’t use. So she got through it.

Recalling events leading from Nicole shrugging off lumps to getting the diagnosis. This area is also noted in a shorter segment in the print story: “You want them (children) to grow up and take care of themselves. She (Nicole) went to the doctor and he examined her and sent her for some lab work.

“She couldn’t get to the lab because she had practices and class and, you know, just kept procrastinating.

"Then one day I was talking to her and she was saying she was trying to play basketball and she had another lump on her neck and it was really bothering her and she couldn’t turn her head.

“And I said,’Ok, Nicole, that’s enough. Come home.’

“We brought her home and took her to Andrews (Air Force Base) because my husband’s military. It happened so fast - blood work, the biopsy, they did all this in a matter of a week.

“The doctor who did the biopsy, she thought that (Hodgkins) is what it was.

“We didn’t know anything about it. Of course my husband and I jumped on the internet and started researching it, learning about. We were like, ‘Oh Lord, I pray that is not it.’

“The good thing was if she was going to get any cancer that was the one to get, because it is the one that’s most curable.

“Nicole, she was just going through everything (the tests) like a piece of cake. When she got back to the doctor, they told her what the diagnosis was, and she was like, ‘Ok, I’ll start treatments after the season because it was getting ready to start.

“She had really worked hard over the summer to elevate her game and come out of her shell. Nicole had always been a late bloomer, she’s a giver, she’s the most unselfish person I know. She wants to do whatever it is she’s asked and do it well. She’s always been that type of kid.

“When they told her she had to come out of school immediately, she took it really hard. That’s when it became really real to her. Boy, the crocodile tears came. I tried to be big about it, but I thought, ‘Forget this.’ (Trying to hold back tears.).

“The doctor was very, very good. She was the best. Nicole fell in love with her. She was real nice. She was very honest. She didn’t sugarcoat. She wasn’t negative. She was pretty much saying, ‘This is what it is and this is how I’d like to attack it.’

On Breaking the news to Drexel: “We started treatment. That was hard, but was even more hard was when we had to come to school and share that with her teammates. Oh, the girls, they were devastated. I started crying all over again.

“Nicole could not get it out. My husband had to tell them. She tried, but she could not get it out.

On sitting on the bench at big games: “God is so good, because when Nicole felt a little better, she would press her way to try to get to school and to get to some of the games for her teammates, and she would be so sick but they never knew. She made it up there and I think it was very good for her. It was very therapeutic.

“So we took her to whatever game she wanted to try to make her way to, and she sat on the bench for her teammates and helped them in the warmups.

“Everybody saw her and they were happy. It’s an amazing chemistry that they all have. Nicole is like the mother hen for the team. She’s the glue. And when they see her, they get excited and they just feel really good.

Effects of the treatments: “She lost some of her hair and we ended up just shaving it off because the doctor said to see it fall out in clumps is so traumatic. My husband shaved his head but I couldn’t go with him on that one,” Kim Hester laughed.

“She’s had a wonderful attitude through the whole process. She’s had to help other people get through it more than herself.

“She’s a very humble child. Nicole’s always been that way. She just does things and she don’t expect anything in return. She does it because that’s just her heart and her nature. She’s always been a humble and giving person.

“She’s so busy doing and making sure everybody else is ok, she’s neglects herself sometimes, I used to think.

On Nicole’s attraction to basketball: “Nicole started getting attracted to basketball around the age of eight or nine. We watched her and she just had a gift for it. It came easy for her, where it can be difficult for a lot of other girls.

“She was part of the first AAU team in Charles County, which were the Wolverines. She was one of the youngest ones, if not the youngest one on the team at the time.

“I think she was about 11 or 12. She really did well against other teams. When we noticed how talented she was, we looked into putting her into a more advanced program.

“So went into Prince George County with the Silkettes. She was so nervous, she got sick on the first day of practice. When she gets really nervous, her stomach ties up in knots. She can’t do anything. She gets really dizzy.

“They won the national tournament when she was in the ninth or tenth grade. Ever since then, college scouts had been watching.

“The one tournament that made the difference was the Boo Williams tournament (in Hampton, Va.) That’s a big time event. (Tennessee coach) Pat Summitt was there and some of the other big Division I schools.

“The team that was pegged to win -- the all-star select teams they call them -- sometimes they’re put together with very, very talented players.

“Well, they were picked to win that tournament. And it came down to that team and Nicole’s team. And the player -- I can’t remember her name -- who was the offensive threat averaged 25 or 26 points a game.

“Nicole had the duty to defend her. Do you know, she might have scored two points? The scouts were so impressed with Nicole’s defense, the way she just really shut the other player out and took her out of her game, that they all wanted to know who she was.

Schooling from Dad. “Her dad always taught her - defense. Defense, defense, defense. He said offense will come, learn defense. He always taught her defense.

“And they’d be out front shooting around. He’d be working with her, and bumping up against her, and getting her form together. And showing her how to make free throws almost perfect everytime.

“He was very, very instrumental in her developing into a better player. When he played on the base teams, he got banged up so many times, that I recently bought him golf clubs so he could try something new.

The road to Drexel: “I have a box of letters (from colleges). Nicole didn’t want to go away. We kind of stayed within the CAA conference because we figured we could get to those games - James Madison was very interested. George Mason was very interested. There were some others outside that group -- Kentucky.

Loving Drexel: “She got the warm and fuzzy when she visited. She got the warm and fuzzy. You know when you get a good feeling? That was it. What Nicole liked about it, based on her personality, it’s not overly large, and it’s not that far away from home, close enough that if she had to come home or if we had to get to her, we could. And it’s like a city-suburban flavor. She liked that kind of flavor.

“We didn’t have a problem with it. I just wanted her to feel comfortable wherever she went because she was the one who was going to have to go there.

“We met the coaches and they were wonderful. I just love everything about Drexel. I am so happy Nicole chose to go there. It’s a wonderful school, wonderful program.

"They’ve been very supportive through this whole process - and the entire conference -- all the schools -- to get the cards and the letters, the baskets, the flowers, the fruit, from all the schools in the CAA conference.

“I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll take Drexel over the big schools any day, any day, any day.

“My husband wanted her to go to Michigan because that’s where he’s from and his family is there, so she would have been well taken care of. But Nicole didn’t like it, she thought it was a little too cold. She likes coolness, now, the air conditioner on, the fan at the same time. But she thought it was a little too overwhelming for her.

Special project: “I’m in the process of getting everything together to do a scrapbook for her. I kept some of her hair and took pictures of her having the treatments -- the medicine bottles, the labels. I’ve never done it before but I thought I’d start there.

Mike’s background and end of interview: “He’s a master sergeant. He’s actually air national guard.

“Just say at the end of the article, Nicole’s family would like to keep the prayers coming because prayers changes things.

Interview With Drexel coach Denise Dillon.

“Nicole has always been the glue to this team. One, she’s a talented player — very skilled. Two, her demeanor, her personality, the way she gets along with her teammates off the court carries on to the court. And it just felt good going into last season, knowing we had that.

“And sure enough, when she was diagnosed, it hit hard in all areas.

“She knew something was wrong with her. She was suffering with some sore throats. She was suffering from colds that were out of the norm for her.

“So she did know something was wrong and put off some appointments. When it was diagnosed, like any strong-willed kid, she thought, ‘I can get through this.’ But when they told her, ‘You can’t play basketball,’ I think that’s when it hit home and she struggled.

“It has been a year since she was part of the playing team. At the same time, you wouldn’t realize it. She hopped into practice with us at the start of the preseason practice and she hasn’t missed a beat.

“She gets it. That’s how talented she is with her understanding.

“This is her team because she is part of that senior class. Academically, she is a senior.
“They came in together and they get each other. We call them (the Suber twins and Hester) the triples. They’re just inseparable.

“She’s now that balance. She’s no longer in that senior class because she has that year of eligibility. But she’s now the balance between the younger kids and the seniors. It’s now working its way out for the whole of the group.

On support from men’s coach Bruiser Flint: “He’s just a joy. He is a great, great man to work with. He knows our players as well as his own. We talked about it on a daily basis. When he saw her, he was always comfortable asking how he was doing.

On Hester’s will to return: “She just had that drive inside her. You never want to see any child go through what she went through last year. But it has opened her eyes up.

"It has opened her teammates’ eyes up. It has certainly opened my eyes up as a coach because it is so hard to go through with your player dealing with it. And you don’t want your other players to be set back because of it.

“She was here at the games and had her hat on. She changes her hair all the time.

“The other thing she suffered from was the radiation. Her skin literally burned. It turned a darker color and it peeled. Her body went through a traumatic experience.

“That was a concern trying to come back because of what she went through. When she hurt, her lungs hurt because her body had been beat up by the chemo and radiation.

On Hester not really dwelling on the last year: “She’s so excited to be back and be part of something, she wants to leave that behind and continue to move forward.

On Hester rebuilding basketball stamina: “She came back in April and has continued to progress.

“You have to tell her she went through something. She’s more worked up over, ‘Why am I not playing like I did my sophomore year?

“I try to tell her, ‘It may feel like a short time, but your body went through a lot in six-nine months.

“We put everything into categories. You’re back in April. We’ll work it out slowly. And we’ll be ready for the season come October. And come November, you’ll be ready for the games.

“She wanted to beat this. She wanted to be Nicole Hester.

Looking ahead and end of interview: “I told her, ‘We’re going to throw you into the fire. Are you ready?

“’Yeah, I wouldn’t want to go into it any other way.’”

Nicole Hester Interview:

Recalling the sequence to the diagnosis: “I had lumps in my neck. But I didn’t think anything of it, because everybody’s lymph nodes get swollen when you’re sick.

“I went to a couple of different doctors here, and they told me it was nothing, so I didn’t worry about it.

“One practice we had, it had attached to my nerves in my neck and it was hard to turn my neck certain ways. And then that same practice, I was really tired. I didn’t make the number of sprints I normally make.

“I told my parents and they said to come home and that’s when I went to the doctors at Andrews Air Force and they did a biopsy under my arm and that’s when they found it.

“I didn’t know what it was, when they first said it. My mom and my dad knew what it was.

“I was just shocked. I didn’t think it was something that I needed any treatment for. And then they said, ‘You won’t be able to play basketball,’ and I just started crying.

“Other than that, it wasn’t that bad. I had done everything, even the Villanova scrimmage, and right before the first game is when I found out.

On returning to campus: “It was a big game (Delaware) so I had to come. It’s always a close game until the end. I had faith in my teammates that they were going to win, but things don’t happen the way you want them to.

On what she did at home: “I slept most of the time because the chemo really made me tired. If I left the house, I tried to go to my brother’s basketball games.

Family medical history: “Nothing ran in the family that indicated that I should have been checked out.

Favorite things: “I’m a family type person and I do hair most of the time. I like to draw a lot, too. I normally just draw what I see.

“There wasn’t ever a time that I didn’t think I was going to be back playing basketball,” Hester said.

“I never thought I wasn’t coming back. The doctors just told me there would be a certain amount of treatments in phases.

“I’d say, ‘After the first phase, I was going to be able to play, right?’ And they’d say, ‘No, we have to take another step.’ I kept counting my days.

On the CAA award: “I don’t know what I did to get it. I probably helped the girls a lot when I came to the games and talked to them.

On her basketball growth: “I looked up to my dad a lot. He didn’t play pro or college or anything like that, but he played in this league on base and he taught me a lot of things that I know now.

“I probably wanted to be like him or Tracy McGrady.

“My favorite (women’s) player is Sheryl Swoopes. She’s been my favorite since the beginning (of the WNBA), even when Cynthia Cooper was around.

Another pasttime: “I braid everybody’s hair. If they don’t like it, I just re-do it and they’ll like it eventually.

“I love Thanksgiving because you get to eat a little of everything. But my favorite food, though, is crabs, being from Maryland, I eat them a lot.

Looking ahead to the season: “I can’t wait to get on the court and be part of something phenomenal this year. I think we’re going to be really good. But I think we’re going to be really good every year.

On Bruiser Flint’s support: “Surprisingly Bru was very supportive. He told me if there was anything I needed, I could come to him. Everytime I saw him, he asked me how I was.

“The Drexel family was really good to me. If it hadn’t been for them, it would have been a lot harder. Or it probably would have discouraged me about coming back.

“They called and texted every day, and some of them came down to Maryland to visit me -- even my academic adviser.

Some comments from the Subers

Narissa Suber: “It was great to have her back. When she was gone, a lot of articles about her said she was the glue that kept us together. And I really believe that, because she’s friends with everyone on the team.

“She brings everyone together and when she was gone that was kind of what was missing.

Anora Suber: “The three of us have already had a great chemistry on the court.

"We would talk to her a lot and I think that helped.

Narissa Suber: “We got to campus (as freshmen) a few weeks late and after we got there, she showed us around all over the place.

(End of interviews)