OVERCOMER | Coach Karrie Redeker’s Story
It was the start of Wednesday’s women’s basketball practice at Illinois Central College – the team was on a high having just found out they were playing in the national tournament – and head coach Karrie Redeker picked up the phone to hear she had breast cancer.
Her treatment would become her personal game to play over the next year, and she would face the challenges the same way she coached her team, with faith over fear, big goals and wearing ICC blue. Karrie never told anyone she had breast cancer, but that she was “going to beat breast cancer.” From the beginning, her mindset was “proud to be an overcomer.”
While in treatment, Karrie led her team in one of the best seasons she has coached, ranking number one in the nation and having a 32 game winning streak. The teams theme that year was Stronger Together, and to Karrie this began to represent the way you get through any adversity. She never felt she was facing treatment alone.
The team’s basketball success allowed for Karrie to set the stage for an epic Cancer Awareness game between her number one nationally ranked team and the number five ranked team. The game went almost to overtime before Illinois Central College won on a last second shot. In addition to spreading cancer awareness, prevention and support, the team asked fans to give donations for three point shots made and charges taken throughout the season and raised over $4,000.00 for Illinois CancerCare Foundation.
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