One Day at a Time

 Throughout her coaching career, Elkins’ cross country and track and field coach Beverly Mabry has had one rule for her athletes to go by. That mantra has always been to do your best today.
On April 10, 2003, she was hit full force with the realization that would become her day-to-day philosophy. That’s the day Mabry was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia.
“After that, I knew I had to take one day at a time,” Mabry said. “I took it over and gave it to God.”
Even before the diagnosis, Mabry had to live her life following her number one rule. In December of 1999, she discovered she had an incurable kidney disease and was born with IgA Nephropathy.  With this condition, the protein immunoglobulin A, deposits in the filters of the kidney that filter wastes and excess water from the blood and send them to the bladder as urine. The IgA protein prevents this filtering process which leads to blood and protein in the urine and swelling in the hands and feet and compromises the immune system. So even before the leukemia diagnosis, Mabry had to be concerned about her health. However, through all of this, she has maintained her teaching and coaching positions. Those were two things she adamantly wouldn’t give up.
“It’s been a godsend,” she said. “Otherwise, I would just sit home and worry. Here (at school) I don’t have time to worry. I think it’s my calling to be a teacher. I have a purpose, although I don’t know what it is. One thing I hope my students learn is that you don’t have to give up when the going gets tough. You just battle one day at a time.”

The Early Years
Before coming to Elkins in 1993, Mabry had spent 10 years teaching at St. Paul where she also coached girls basketball for a short period of time before giving it up to raise her three sons, Jeremy, Bo and Brett. She teaches 7th grade health and science, physical education and high school health. Once at Elkins, her boys were old enough for her to start coaching again, and she started off with seventh grade basketball, softball and as a trainer for the football team. She doesn’t remember what year, but somewhere between 1993 and 2000, she took the softball team to the state finals. The 2000-2001 school year, was when she started coaching track, and that was out of necessity.
“I had to give up softball because it was too stressful,” Mabry said. “The last year I coached I was hit in the chest and my heart stopped, but when I fell it started back up again. I just couldn’t get out of the way anymore.”
So, athletic director Aaron Clark suggested Mabry coach track. Although she had never coached it, Mabry participated in track when she went to school at Elkins. Through a lot of research, asking for help and watching videos, Mabry embraced the sport and even started the cross country program. She now sees that also was a godsend.
“The thing about track is it is different than the other sports,” Mabry said. “The coaches and competitors get to know one another and cheer for each other. It’s like a family. I have received so many e-mails from coaches from the other schools and have been on numerous prayer lists.”

That Fateful Day
Prior to momentous Thursday, that week before was spring break. That first Saturday of spring break, her family went to Hot Springs for the day. That Sunday, her chest started hurting but it wasn’t necessarily chest pains. Her white blood count was 25,000, and she was admitted to the hospital. By Wednesday, she couldn’t get out of bed and didn’t feel well at all.
“On Thursday, I was told they were calling in an oncologist,” Mabry said through tears. “I didn’t want to think what that meant. They told me they were going to do a bone marrow biopsy.”
The biopsy was the most painful thing Mabry had been through. However, the test wasn’t done right, and Patrick Travis, the oncologist, did a blood test. On April 10, Mabry found out she had a genetic form of leukemia. On April 12, she started treatment. She took an oral treatment twice a day and suffered the side effect of gaining excessive weight. There were very few days when she couldn’t make it to school and she battled on and continued her coaching and teaching duties.
“Her strength is so inspiring,” said Grace Heymsfield, a sophomore track standout who has won 11 state titles. “She is an amazing woman and gives us fuel. We want to do good for her, but when she doesn’t feel good, it is tough to watch.”

A Tough Year
Mabry’s treatment keeps her leukemia in remission, and things were going well until December 2006. That was when the old medicine became toxic to her, and the side effects were harming her. In August of 2007, her white blood count was back up and the fluid retention and toxicity were so dangerous that she couldn’t go back on the drug. Hope was on the horizon as a new medicine was soon to be released, but it wouldn’t be until November when she would get the drug.
“Last year was real difficult and we kept a real good eye on her,” Thurman Shaw, the boys track coach said. “She’s tough and one of a kind.”
With the new medicine, Mabry is once again thriving. It’s been suggested to her to take medical disability and retire. Mabry will have none of that. She knows she’s better off being at school, and also knows God will take care of her, and that she will be OK.
“She has a lot of will power and drive and makes me want to be like her,” Bo said. “She’d rather impact someone else’s life than think about herself. She’d rather make someone else feel good.”