TARBORO —
PINETOPS — As a family faces an uphill battle, a community rallies.
“It has been overwhelming and humbling to see how everyone steps in when your whole world is devastated,” said Teresa Mobley. “In times like this, you’re very grateful for small towns and everybody knowing everybody and loving everybody.”
Mobley, the cheerleading coach at SouthWest Edgecombe High School was diagnosed with leukemia on Aug. 30. Since then, the high school community has shown its support to her and her family.
“The whole football team and the cheerleaders all wear orange [the color of leukemia awareness] on Fridays,” said Tonia Summerlin, Teresa’s 17-year-old daughter and cheerleading team captain at SouthWest. Many of her classmates and cheer teammates proudly don orange shirts with the words “No, leukemia, you can’t have my second mama,” screen-printed on the back.
“She looks at us like her second kids,” said 17-year-old Makyah Arrington, also a cheerleader. Cancer has not slowed down the “Supermom,” who still attends cheerleading practice with her daughter every day.
“She’s a hard-headed woman. This will not beat my mama,” said Summerlin. “When she got diagnosed, she wasn’t worried about herself. She was worried about us.”
Mobley, who is married to Scott Mobley, has three other children – Jarratt Mobley, 14, Brayden Mobley, 9, and McKenlee Mobley, 4. While Mobley’s family is her whole world and reason for getting up every morning, she has an extended family as well – the team that literally cheers her on every day.
“I have 34 girls who depend on me. Their determination to help get me through this has helped me stay positive when chemo is kicking my butt and I’d rather stay in bed,” said Mobley. She told the girls, “We’re a team and a team is only as strong as the weakest link and I won’t be the weakest link if you won’t.”
In her years of coaching cheerleading, Mobley said she has never seen a group of girls who care about their team as much as her squad at SouthWest.
“It really has brought everybody together,” she said. “It used to be about winning competitions and now it’s about making sure everybody’s OK.”
“Now, everybody’s stronger than we used to be,” said Arrington. “We’re one.”
“One team, one heart,” as cheerleader Kelly Ellis says.
Like the cheerleading team, Mobley’s family has learned that life is not always fair, but she believes God chose her family to face the obstacle of cancer because, “He knew that we were all strong enough to face it.”
Another obstacle the Mobley family has faced a football injury that left him Jarratt with two broken arms. Doctors told him he would never be able to play football again, but he is playing football and throwing even harder than ever, Summerlin said.
“You can beat anything,” she said. Since her mother’s diagnosis, she has stepped up to take Brayden on school field trips since her mother is no longer able to take him, and everyone has pitched in to keep the house in immaculate condition. (Mobley cannot be exposed to germs because of her low white blood count and inability to fight infection). The day her classmates found out about Teresa, “15 of them came to my house and wiped down everything,” Summerlin said.
Mobley is undergoing chemotherapy treatments, but is in need of a bone marrow transplant to rid her body of the cancer.
The SouthWest community will rally around the Mobley Family once again for a bone marrow drive in hopes of identifying a donor. The drive will be held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13 in the school gymnasium. The goal for the drive is 100 people. If a donor is identified, the target date for Mobley to have her transplant is December.
“If I have the transplant and it’s successful, I’m cured and I never have to worry about this again,” she said. The success rate for bone marrow transplants is 50 percent.
Summerlin expects her mother to beat the odds, and beat the illness. A few months ago, cancer was the farthest thing from the high-school senior’s mind.
“I was worried about graduation, applying to college,” she said, adding she and the rest of the family have “matured a lot” since her mother’s diagnosis.
“I don’t worry about little things anymore. Life’s too precious,” said Jennifer Britt, Summerlin’s friend and cheerleading teammate. “We’ve learned what’s valuable.
These days, Summerlin is just taking things “one day at a time.”
“You go through stages of grief,” she said. First, you get upset, then you get angry, then you ask, “Why?” Finally, you get “headstrong,” determined to win the fight with cancer.
That resolve to fight, the power of prayer, and community support have helped the Mobley Family cope. One of the most touching moments of Summerlin’s day is listening to her siblings Brayden and McKenlee pray every night.
“They say, ‘I hope mommy gets better and we can find a donor.’”
“We’re looking for a hero,” Mobley said of her potential donor.
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Teresa Mobley, cheerleading coach at SouthWest Edgecombe High School, talked about an upcoming competition with her team on Wednesday afternoon. Despite going through chemotherapy treatments for leukemia, Mobley still goes to practice every day.
Family, community rallies around cheerleading coach
‘ONE TEAM ONE HEART’
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Here is your chance to celebrate your graduate’s Special Day by announcing their graduation in our Congratulation Page.
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Hats Off To Our Graduates!
The announcements will appear in The Daily Southerner on June 7, 2013.
Deadline for placing announcements will be Tuesday, June 4th by 5:00pm.
All ads must be pre-paid. Information can be dropped off at our office 504 W. Wilson Street, Tarboro or call 823-3106. - Early college seniors graduate
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Hats Off To Our Graduates!
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Dr. Deborah Lamm, president of Edgecombe Community College, received the national ACT Career Preparedness Award on behalf of the college Tuesday. Shown from left to right are Dr. Jon Whitmore, ACT CEO; Scott Montgomery, ACT vice president; Sid Baker, education program specialist, NC Office of the State Superintendent; Dr. Lamm; and Virginia Edwards; editor-in-chief, Education Week.
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Edgecombe Community College receives national award
Edgecombe Community College (ECC) received a national award Tuesday night for its efforts to prepare students to be successful in careers and the workplace.
Edgecombe was among four honorees that received national awards in Washington, D.C., during a gala that concluded ACT’s inaugural College and Career Readiness Campaign. - County gospel choir to celebrate 20th anniversary
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Edgecombe Community College receives national award
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14-Under softball tryout
The Tarboro Parks and Recreation Department and Edgecombe County Girls Softball League will be having tryouts for 14-under girls fast-pitch softball Wednesday, May 29 from 7 - 8:30 p.m. at Farmington Park in Rocky Mount. The is located at 319 Wellington Dr. There will also be a tryout Thursday, May 30 at Indian Lake Sports Complex on field 1 in Tarboro from 6 - 7:30 p.m. There is a $10 fee for Tarboro residents and a $35 fee for non-residents. For more information call the sports complex at 641-4202, Kathy Webb 252-813-4697 or Jamie Lindsey 252-883-0883 or sftbllgrlunc@hotmail.com.
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14-Under softball tryout
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My 13 years have been lucky
It was 13 years Sunday that a drought was broken in Big Spring, Texas, After that, we ate Mexican for dinner with a gathering of family and friends.
The next day, a Saturday, Stephanie and I joined one another in marriage under a beautiful little gazebo by Comanche Trail Lake, fed by the historic spring from which the community draws its name.
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My 13 years have been lucky
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Corbett/Chasse Wedding
Brittney Joyce Corbett and Kenneth Robert Chasse, Jr. were united in marriage on April 6th, 2013, at 5:30pm at the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount. The Rev. Carrol Bradbury officiated the ceremony.
The Rehearsal Dinner was hosted by Shirley and Donald Foreman, Grandparents of the Groom and also Elisha and Kenneth Chasse, Parents of the Groom, at Pizza Inn in Rocky Mount.
The Bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Durwood Corbett of Macclesfield, NC. The Groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Robert Leonel Chasse, Sr. of Pinetops, NC.
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CURTIS LEE DAVIS
PRINCEVILLE — Curtis Lee Davis, 60, died Sunday, May 19, 2013. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 25, 2013 at the St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church (2225 N.C. Hwy 97 East) with burial in the Morning Family Cemetery.
Arrangements under direction of Dickens Funeral Service. - IRENE EVANS
- SHIRLEY A. GOLDSTON
- JOHNNY LEE LAWRENCE
- CECILIA AMANDA PUDDY
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CURTIS LEE DAVIS
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Great fondue
My husband and I love to entertain. We also love fondue. I have 4 or 5 fondue pots. I use them regularly. Some of them I have had for a long time.
Fondue began as a way to use up old, hardened cheese. The original fondue was cheese with wine. You then dipped hardened pieces of bread into the mixture. In America, the 1950's was the height of the fondue craze. However, it appears to be making a comeback. - Budget Friendly Deliciousness
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Edgecombe Events May 24
Edgecombe Events should be submitted by noon the day before publication. Items eligible include notices of local meetings and activities of non-profit organizations, clubs, schools and civic groups in the community. Information should be brief and typewritten, neatly printed or via e-mail. Questions? 823-3106 or e-mail: events@dailysoutherner.com. Leave a daytime contact phone number.
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Edgecombe Events May 24
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Edgecombe Garden Club honors members
The Edgecombe Garden Club met May 1 for their noon luncheon at the Fountains of the Albemarle. After President Pauline Nicolosi greeted everyone, Sandra Joyner, Devotion Chairman, read “Torch” which was about our tongues torching good or evil.
Hostess Barbara Getzug described her specially designed flower arrangement of mock orange, snowball, purple columbine, and many varieties of roses. President Pauline, Hostesses Gloria Wall and Louise Fleming did the table arrangements. They contained wiegelia, azalea, ivy, mock orange, and ligustrum. - DAR AWARDS
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