Volleyball team goes pink for cancer awareness

The Wahkiakum Mule volleyball team has dedicated October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and their entire 2014 season to a beloved local woman, Brandi Knowles Thomas, who lost a long battle with breast cancer in September.

As pink is the universal color for breast cancer awareness, the team is inviting the community to a Pink Out at their home match with Toutle Lake next Tuesday.

"It started with pink socks at games," senior hitter Tori Wegdahl said, "but the whole team decided to go bigger."

Soon their uniform included a pair of pink shorts. Now both the varsity and junior varsity team are sporting pink warm ups.

On Tuesday, the community will get a chance to honor Thomas and join the team in the wearing of the pink. Organizers will be passing buckets around to collect donations in the form of cash or checks for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) in Brandi's memory.

"Brandi was amazing," Tori's mom Stacy Wegdahl said. "She was like a second mom to some of the girls on the team."

"She was their number one fan," Principal Stephanie Leitz added. "She was always at their games. If she was sick, someone at the game would text her the scores."

Brandi's youngest daughter, Grayci is a freshman and plays for the junior varsity and her oldest, Jessica, is a senior this year and runs cross country. This is just one way that the volleyball team is giving them support as well.

The public is invited to put on some pink and come to the high school to support the volleyball team on Tuesday. Junior Varsity play begins at 5:45 followed by the varsity match at 7 p.m.

"It is going to be a big game for the girls," Stacey said.

Donations can be sent in memory of Thomas to SCCA, PO Box 19023, Seattle WA 98109-1023.