Posted on: Friday, October 11, 2002
Iolani coach battling Lou Gehrig's disease
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Iolani volleyball coach Ann Kang has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a life-threatening ailment.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
| HOW TO HELP:
The Friends of Ann Kang” have planned a fund-raiser Nov. 26 to help Iolani School's longtime teacher and girls volleyball coach defray medical expenses. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pacific Beach Hotel's Grand Ballroom and will feature live entertainment, a silent auction and dinner. Tickets are $30. Donations to the fund also can be made by depositing a check to "Friends of Ann Kang" at any First Hawaiian Bank branch. For more information, call the Friends of Ann Kang hotline at 544-8322, e-mail them at FriendsofAnnKang@aol.com or visit their Web site. |
One of Hawai'i's most respected high school coaches, Iolani's venerable Ann Kang, has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable ailment commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Kang, 47, a former University of Hawai'i volleyball player who helped launch Iolani's girls athletics program in 1979 when the school went co-educational after 115 years, first experienced symptoms in December and was officially diagnosed in April with the rare debilitating and life-threatening affliction.
ALS, which affects one out of every 50,000 people, is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord. The result is a loss of muscle control and movement.
The disease accelerates quickly, and many patients totally succumb within two or three years of diagnosis. Kang, a four-sport athlete in high school, first noticed problems while playing tennis last December.
"I thought it was just my back, because it hurt after the matches," Kang said. "Or I thought I was just out of shape. But then I fell a couple of times just walking, without even tripping over something. And in class, I was having trouble doing even the modified push-ups we do for the fitness test."
Then one day, while on a walk, Kang fell flat on her face and chipped a tooth after not being able to brace the fall.
"That got my attention," she said.
Kang went to see her doctor, and during the routine exam they noticed something odd in the knee-jerk test. When the doctor tapped on Kang's knee, her lower leg bounced upward not just once, but six times.
She was referred to specialists who tried to determine the loss of muscle control through a number of examinations.
"There's no one test to say you've got (ALS)," Kang said. "They just keep going with other tests until they rule out everything else. Then they say, 'Bring your husband in.'"
The news was devastating for Kang and her husband, Alan, especially when thoughts turned to their 14-year-old twins, Barry and Marci. The family already was coping with Alan's diabetes, which has prevented him from working the past two years.
Kang began taking medication designed to slow the effects of ALS, and started physical therapy to try and regain or maintain muscle control. She also changed her diet to give her body the best chance at good health.
Then there was the mental aspect, beginning with the normal reactions of denial and fear. Only family members and close friends were told of the diagnosis, and Kang debated until late in the summer whether she would coach her 24th season at Iolani.
It wasn't until a preseason trip to Hilo in August that Kang finally decided that teaching and coaching was the right thing to do.
"Life is about choices," Kang said. "I could have chosen not to coach, but then what would I have done? It's what I love to do, so why stop doing it?"
Staying normal
And so she still teaches, and coaches, every day. Kang is not as mobile as she once was and uses a cane to help her walk, but her defending state champion Raiders are 6-1 and challenging for their second straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship.
"It helps with the normalcy," Kang said of coaching. "Other people with ALS said you think about it for about 30 minutes after you wake up, and then you go on with your day."
The toughest part of the season so far has been answering questions about her health and finding the strength to tell people the whole truth. Iolani's faculty and staff was informed in a confidential letter dated Sept. 18, about the same time Kang told her team.
"I had told them I was having problems with my nerves," Kang said. "The denial was part of not telling anybody."
Another part was humility. Kang reluctantly agreed to finally go public with her story this week only to alleviate mounting questions from concerned friends and fans. Now that the word is out, however, another kind of deluge is forthcoming.
The Iolani community is rallying to help Kang face the problem head on. Kang also can count on the Rainbow Wahine's loyal family unit as another strong pillar of support.
"You never think you're going to be the subject of something like this," Kang said. "I've already gotten so many e-mails and cards from a lot of people offering their help ... it's overwhelming."
And the outpouring of support has just begun. A group called "The Friends of Ann Kang," comprised mostly of Iolani alumni, faculty and staff, has scheduled a fund-raiser for Nov. 26 to help Kang and her family defray medical expenses. Wahine Volleyball Booster Club vice president Fred Parker said his group will plan to somehow be involved in the efforts to help Kang, who played for the Rainbow Wahine as Ann Goldenson in 1976 and 1977.
"Our alumni group is still pretty strong, and I'm sure they'll be willing to give their support, too," said UH women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji, for whom Kang played in college.
Kang's legion of supporters, however, mostly has been built from the hundreds of lives she has influenced at Iolani. In Kang's first year there, Iolani had a limited amount of girls only in grades 7 and 9, and in those early times she coached volleyball, basketball, softball and swimming.
And Kang immediately adapted the school's "One Team" philosophy, passed down through the generations from Father Kenneth Bray in the 1930s. The belief is that no player is more important than another, and every action should service the team as a single unit. In practical terms, "One Team" also means if one player is given a lei or carton of juice after a game, then everybody should get one. And if one person doesn't get the lei or juice from his parents, then no one gets it.
"I was a team captain and played on junior national and national teams, but I've also been the last sub," Kang said. "I know how important each player is, and I try to treat everyone the same."
From those humble beginnings, Kang aided Iolani's development into a power in almost every girls sport, as evidenced by four state championships in 2001-2002.
"She's been a big part of our program's foundation," said Eddie Hamada, an Iolani icon who as athletic director in 1979 hired Kang to be the school's first female physical education teacher. "We needed someone with real good fundamentals, and as a person she showed us things that really gave us the green light. We've been very happy ever since."
Passion for kids, school
Kang said she draws inspiration from others who were afflicted with ALS, including former Punahou and Michigan State football star Charlie Wedemeyer and baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, for whom the disease is named.
Kang also said she has read about Dr. Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned physicist who has had ALS for 29 years but still is contributing to the field of science. Wedemeyer, who has had Lou Gehrig's disease since 1977, coached the Los Gatos (Calif.) High School football team to a section championship in 1985 and continues to coach junior varsity football at Los Gatos and give inspirational speeches around the world.
Another ALS patient Kang read about is a woodshop teacher who has had the disease for 14 years and still teaches every day.
"I take strength in that," Kang said. "I plan to coach until they tell me I can't do it anymore."
In addition to coaching, Kang started an annual preseason volleyball tournament in 1983 that still attracts top Mainland teams and remains the only one of its kind in any girls sport here.
"She may be the most dedicated high school (volleyball) coach, to be in it for this long," Shoji said. "A lot of coaches get burned out or find all kinds of reasons to stop, but Ann really has a real passion for kids and for this school, and they've all been fortunate to be touched by her."
For Kang, the feeling is mutual.
"When I first got hired, it was just a teaching job and I was just thrilled for that because those were hard to get back then," said Kang, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif. "But this school has such a family atmosphere, I'm extremely lucky it's worked out the way it did. One thing (ALS) did is it has brought out a lot of people whom I hadn't seen in years, former players who have said things they might not have said otherwise.
"It's good to hear that stuff now, to know you've had a positive effect on people, because it shows you have a purpose in life. That gives me strength, too.
"It's God's blessing."
