Sunday, April 17, 2011
Maggie and Rosie Hull had reminders everywhere.
The team was sporting pink uniforms, most of the fans were also wearing pink, and the Jayhawks were hosting Baylor for their Pink in the Park game to support breast cancer awareness.
Mariah Montgomery passes the ball to freshman infielder Laura Vickersat who's waiting at first base Sunday afternoon at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks fell to the Baylor Bears 0-8 in five innings.
But the Hull twins had another reminder of the disease — this one more personal. They each wore a pink wristband with “Mom” written on it.
“I was just thinking about how she’s a stronger fighter than I ever have been,” Rosie said.
Sophomore outfielders Maggie and Rosie Hull’s mother, Marilyn Hull, was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram when the twins were sophomores in high school. Marilyn has been cancer-free for three years and remains a constant reminder to the twins of what true strength really is.
The Jayhawks lost the weekend series to the Bears 9-3 and 8-0, but the motivation was still there.
“I was trying to take some of the fight that I see in her on to the field,” Maggie said.
Maggie, who hit her seventh home run of the season on Saturday, recalled the hardest times for her mother and the admirable way she would go to their high school basketball games even when she was sick. If she was strong enough to go, Marilyn was there for her daughters.
“She’s one of the most selfless people I know and really tried to put family above everything when she was going through all of that,” Maggie said.
What their mother overcame makes everything seem like a manageable obstacle, the twins said. With cancer, it’s a matter of life or death. But whatever the twins do now has a deeper meaning. Whether it’s softball, school or any other life challenge, Rosie said they had an idol who was a living example of perseverance.
“That was my inspiration to get me through not only this game, but life,” she said. “It teaches you not to take life for granted.”
And they haven’t, especially after a hardship the softball team endured last year.
Former player Ally Stanton’s mother died of breast cancer. The team attended the funeral, which was a time of sincere compassion on behalf of the Hull family.
That could have been their mom.
“It could have gone the other way,” Maggie said. “They just so happened to catch my mom’s early.”
As the sisters recalled the tragic experience, the emotions began to show in their eyes. They were lucky.
Maggie had one memory in particular that summed up how much her mother overcame. Just a couple of weeks after she was cancer-free, Marilyn Hull finished the Relay for Life walk, a fundraising event for the fight against cancer.
“At the end of the track, she took off her hat and she was bald,” Maggie said. “She was just so proud that she could do that walk.
“And she was proud of who she was.”
— Edited by Helen Mubarak
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