The news hit Thomas Nelson pretty hard, as it would any child. Hearing your mom has breast cancer, especially the day before Thanksgiving, puts a completely different spin on a teenager 's life.Fortunately for the Loveland High School senior, he had somebody to turn to for advice, because unfortunately, the news had become somewhat commonplace among members of the Loveland High School baseball team and their families.

It was two years ago Kris Ratchkowsky found out his mother, Laurie, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Last year, Jimmy Schweitzer 's maternal grandmother, Mary Lou Sweet was given the same report, and this year, in addition to Nelson 's mother, Tana, Schweitzer 's paternal grandfather, James, was diagnosed.

When you hear it, it really puts you back in your seat, Thomas said. It makes you have a different perspective.

Knowing all of these people have supported them on the field for many years, the players on the team decided to return the favor. Today, when Loveland hosts Fort Collins in a Front Range League game at Swift Field (4 p.m., weather permitting), both teams will be wearing pink hats (so will the junior varsity that day and the C team the following day), as will Tana, Laurie, Mary Lou and James.

The idea, which came from the players themselves, is to raise money for Tana to donate as she participates in the Relay For Life this June at The Ranch. The target goal is $3,000, with the hats also being sold at MI Sports and Embroid Me.

The gesture is already enough to Tana.

It 's been real emotional, she said, breaking into a tears a couple of times. For high school kids to think of something like this ... you 're just going day by day trying to get yourself through it, and you don 't realize people are thinking about you the way they do.

Loveland coach Adam Bakersky said he had nothing to do with the thought. At first, Darryl Baca and Dominic East approached him about wearing pink rubber bracelets on the field. That was against Colorado High School Activities Association rules, as was the second idea, wearing pink ribbon lapel pins on their hats.

Instead, the team had the pink ribbons stitched into their hats, then the idea was broached of wearing pink hats for a game.

Baca said the feeling on the squad was something needed to be done to show support for their teammates and their family members.

We do a bunch of things together; we 're like brothers, the junior catcher said. If something is affecting one of our teammates or their family, it affects all of us.

Bakersky said Zephyr was more than happy to not only produce the hats at cost, but to turn them around as quickly as possible 100 in all.

This year, we have a real good group of guys, and we all stand behind each other when somebody is having a rough time, Thomas said. It makes you feel good to have a team like that.

One of the first people he called was teammate Kris Ratchkowsky, and the two took a drive, with Kris telling Thomas what was coming, what to expect and ways to help ease the burden on his mother.

Tana herself talked to Laurie about what she went through, though it has turned out her experience is a bit more intense. While both have had lumpectomies, Laurie was able to avoid chemotherapy treatments before radiation. Tana just found out her chemotherapy treatments have been changed and will be extended into June, followed by three weeks of daily radiation treatments in Boulder.

She was diagnosed with Grade 3 lump (meaning it was fast moving and also estrogen negative, increasing the chances it would spread to other places), but at Stage 1, early detection.

The blessing, she said, was that she did monthly checks herself and was able to find it early.

I 'm a big advocate of Buddy Check9, she said, referring to the campaign by the Denver television station. I found one 10 years ago, but it turned out to be nothing. I 've always done my exams every month since then. I checked in October and it wasn 't there. It was in November.

Help has come from all over. Thomas and his father, Mike, ease the burden at home. So does the team, which provides meals the nights Tana has her chemo treatments. Her co-workers at Norbel Credit Union have been great, and even supplied a little levity at times. The bank was held up last week, and they said if she had been there, she could have taken off her wig and scared the robbers away.

It makes her laugh, and she looks for those moments.

People keep telling me I 'm strong, but I don 't see myself that way, she said. I just see myself as getting through this.

Advice Laurie passed along too often to others she 's spent time with in the stands watching games.

I don 't know how or what it was, but I never got scared, she said. I never said, ‘why me? ' I said, ‘why not me, I 'm like anybody else, ' and I 've just got to get through it.

Then she rattled off the figure that one in four women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, a thought the Loveland baseball team knows all too well to be true.

What they do know is today 's game won 't be just like any of the other hundreds they 've watched their sons play over the years, a feeling that has hit the team, as well.

It won 't be for most of us, Thomas said. We 'll have a little extra for the game, looking up and seeing your moms and grandmothers in the stands wearing pink hats. We 'll want to step it up a bit more to get a win, to try to make it a little more special for them.

The day already will be, because the thought really does count.

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