Keith Leupold probably had little notion of what autumn eventually would mean for him, beyond being typically busy with volleyball season.

When October began to be utilized as a way to increase awareness of breast cancer, as well as a means to raise funds to fight it, Leupold’s life as the Las Cruces High head coach was much like everyone else’s.

Then his wife, Jane, was diagnosed to have breast cancer. Awareness of the disease and the high-profile projects to combat it then took on a more personal tone.

Jane Leupold died on Jan. 14, 2011, and the pink that is symbolic of the fight against the disease. But by last October, “my kids were like, ‘Dad, we are so tired of pink.’

“The wounds were so fresh,” he adds.

It’ll never be easy, but this time autumn has been easier for the Bulldawgs’ coach.

“I surely never asked to be one of the poster people, but once you’re out there you get asked questions about it,” says Leupold, whose Las Cruces team fell in this week’s Class 5A quarterfinals. “I know my wife would’ve been very active in it. It’s an opportunity to teach that there are more important things in life.”

The Leupolds, meanwhile, reached out to members of the state high school volleyball community, and they reached out to him.

Leupold had a former player from 22 years ago email him for advice after she was diagnosed to have the disease. Moriarty coach Kim Bell was another.

“My biggest concern is women who say I don’t want to get a mammogram, but that’s what saved my life,” says Bell, who was 47 when she was diagnosed with the disease. “You walk that road alone, but there are a lot of people thinking about you and praying for you.

“I appreciated the people who had come and talked with me. It was nice to talk to someone who had been down that path,” Bell adds.

Now, with his wife gone, it’s Keith Leupold who is becoming one of those to encourage others.

“Her own fight, she was very positive and determined that cancer was not going to run her life,” he recalls. “She compartmentalized cancer the way she compartmentalized other things. She said she’d talk about it, for instance, from 10 (a.m.) to noon but after that she was cancer free and that it wouldn’t interfere with her family life.”

The concerned voices that Keith Leupold hears aren’t just from those who already have breast cancer. It’s also for the future from the young women that he works with.

“My comment to them is that four of you, out of 30 in our program, will contract breast cancer in your lifetime,” Leupold says. “But the numbers I’ve heard is that something like 85 percent are going to survive it. It’s not necessarily a death sentence, but it’s definitely something people need to be aware of.

“If I can be an encouragement to women who seek encouragement, that’s something I’m going to do,” he adds. “It’s something I’ve been led to do.”

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— This article appeared on page D12 of the Albuquerque Journal