This is year three for Jam the Gym, so it may be important to keep tabs on its history. On a Thursday Night in October 2009, on the way to the final volleyball game of the season at Franklin Regional, Head Coach Ellen Toy got the call all cancer patients will never forget. She had been diagnosed with Gastric Cancer. On board that bus along with the Kiski Area team, was Asst. Coach Jaime Moran. Jaime was a two time survivor of battles with Leukemia and immediately became one of Ellen's biggest supporters.
She helped Ellen get through that night, and in the weeks that followed organized fundraisers at both Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen. Jaime remembered how involved the community became during her battles, and felt it was her turn to pay it back. With Jaime's help(and her vast collection of hats!)Ellen began treatments. After surgery to remove 65% of her stomach, Ellen worked her way through treatments that included first Chemotherapy, then radiation, and then a combination of both. It was a very difficult regimen that left her 60lbs lighter at 95lbs! As tough as that was it couldn't prepare the girls for what was to come. Jaime took over open gyms during Ellen's treatments and in the spring of 2010 she started noticing deep bruising after exercising with the team. A week later, she received a third leukemia diagnosis. It was just too much for the close knit group around Kiski Area volleyball and the extended Cavalier athletic family. An idea was born. At the upcoming Relay for Life, we would gather as many family members, friends, former teammates, and former and current players and students of these two coaches. What resulted was the "Largest Single Team in Relay for Life history"! 650 members strong and known now as the Fluorescent Angels. The "Angels" raised $14,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society that night, but more than that ignited the movement that spawned "Jam the Gym". If we could do that for the Relay for Life, then what if we did something similar for Jaime. Almost as a gag, the term Jam the Gym 4 Jaime was floated. The more it was mentioned the more it gained steam. A volleyball match, with a ton of great prizes to give away, including a signed Sidney Crosby jersey! The atmosphere was electric. A crowd of 900 would witness a come from behind 5 set win vs section rival Penn Trafford and Jaime projected on the gym wall via two way Skype. Jam the Gym 4 Jaime raised $12,000 dollars to help defer some of the costs of Jaime's treatments, but again more than that started something even bigger. It was decided that Jam the Gym would be a yearly event. With Ellen on the mend and Jaime battling the side effects from her treatment course, Jam the Gym 2 would benefit three charities. They would include, The Mario Lemieux Foundation, the 9th Floor Child's Life Foundation at Children's Hospital, and the Cavalier Leadership Cancer fund(set up to provide financial help to teachers in treatment). Jam 2 also had great prizes and a competitive section match(Kiski beat Norwin 3-1) but that's only part of the story. $7,000 dollars were raised to be split between the three charities, and as good as that was, a template was being formed for the future of the event. Those involved in the Jam the Gym idea have always envisioned a future for this event that would help those suffering from the effects of cancer treatments, both financial and physical. With the strong participation of the Kiski Area student body, and in particular the Cavalier Leadership Council, it will be fitting that Jam the Gym 3 at least partially focus on students needs. Jam 3 will feature the first ever CLC Cancer Scholarship, awarded to a student who has directly been affected by cancer.(either themselves, a parent or sibling) Also benefiting will be The American Cancer Society, the organization that was so important in the Fluorescent Angels first year, and a fund set up for future community cancer needs. Jam the Gym 3 will also kick the volleyball up a level. This year Kiski Area will battle the Butler Golden Tornados, but after that match college volleyball will take the floor for the first time in Kiski Valley history! Kiski graduate and Head Coach Mike Bruno brings his squad from Point Park to do battle with the Seton Hill Griffins. It promises to be a great night of volleyball, fellowship, and fun. So there it is, the history and the future of Jam the Gym! Tim Toy

Iceberg, Kris Letang, and Marc Andre Fluery stopped by to say hello to Jaime.  You have to love the professionalism of the Penguins organization.

“Help me! Help me!” A frail, defenseless woman in a white dress is tethered to a railroad track pleading for someone to save her. The tracks begin to quiver. Gentle “chugs” quickly increase their clarity. A whistle sounds. She turns her head to see a plume of smoke bellowing out of the smokestack of a train coming closer and closer....

Full Essay Here

LEECHBURG (KDKA) – On this day of giving thanks, a local high school volleyball team is thankful to have both of their coaches alive today.

Cancer may have slowed them down, but hasn’t stopped them.   CONTINUE READING HERE

To tell the tale on how Ellen and Jaime's cancer stories converge we have to go back a few years. Ellen had just been named the new Head Volleyball coach at Kiski Area. She was holding one of her first open gyms and Jaime came in to express interest in helping out as an assistant. Jaime was fresh out of college and hoping to get a job in the district teaching math. We didn't know Jaime at the time but we knew her story very well. We knew that Jaime had battled leukemia in High school and again while she was a student at St. Vincent. We may have questioned how much volleyball Jaime knew, but the bottom line was this. If anyone can teach our athletes about courage and perseverance, it was Jaime. Little did we know at that time that it would be Ellen and I who would need the lesson.


Between then and now Jaime jumped in with both feet. She attended clinics and coached Junior Olympics and has become a fine volleyball coach. She also did get a job at the Kiski Area Intermediate School teaching math to 7th and 8th graders. Last year she even got to take on the Head Coaching duties while Ellen dealt with what was thought to be stomach ulcers. Ellen had been having some minor discomfort, and when she got sick from what we thought was a reaction to a flu shot it was time to get closer look. Tests were done and results were pending.

Then came the infamous "bus ride". The team was on its way to Franklin Regional for its last game of last season. Ellen's gastric doctor called with the bad news. Ellen had an gastric cancer. I have heard on many occasions when things like this happen that there is a sound, a deafening roaring in your ears, your world suddenly seems so chaotic and out of control . I remember feeling so far away when she called me, that it was impossible for me to get there quickly enough. I remember having to gather our kids, Aly,nineteen and Mason, fifteen, and give them the news. That was undoubtedly the hardest thing I have ever had to do as a parent. I remember that the half hour drive from Vandergrift to Franklin Regional seemed to take hours. When we arrived we found Ellen outside on a swing set. We talked and hugged and cried. I told Ellen that if she wanted me to gather her things I would take her home. Courage, that night, was Ellen saying no, I am putting myself back together and going in there to coach. I don't know if the players had any idea what was going on, but if they watched me they had to know something was wrong. The National anthem, made me cry so hard that I couldn't control it. The thought that we may never get to do this again was overwhelming. I really don't know how Ellen did it that night. I was a mess. We had a secret weapon there with us that night. I remember at one point Jaime hugging me, and saying very softly but very powerfully "this is going to be alright". Knowing where Jaime had been, I believed her.

Jaime had plenty of support during her battles with leukemia, and immediately went to work of helping us with fundraisers at both Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen. She said that she felt it was her responsibility to pay it forward for all the times she had received support from the community. It was just before another benefit held by the Leechburg teachers that we found out that Jaime's leukemia had returned. I was supposed to be the spokesperson for our family. Thank everyone for their efforts and put on a strong face. I didn't think I could read what I had written. I'm not sure I believed most of it anymore. It dealt in faith and I must admit that mine was shaken. Again, it was Jaime who steadied me and told me it was what I had to do, what people came to hear, and again, she was right.

While Ellen and Jaime's battles with cancer continue, I'm sure both would agree that the valuable friendships we have forged have been priceless. We have created a vast system of support for one and other that extends deeply into each others families and friends. It has been awesome to watch happen. It is Love by its very definition. I've never been one who believed to strongly in coincidence. I think that at this particular time we were all destined to be together like this. Two families drawing on each other for courage and faith. May God bless us all!

Exciting details to come about Jam the Gym 3. Tentative schedule and an exciting new "twist"! A long way off but the planning has begun! More details to come.


- Tim Toy

   

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