By Matt Le Cren
Special to Illprepvb.com
Day One.
That’s the motto Sandburg volleyball coach David Vales has lived by since the beginning of 2020, when he decided to change his mindset.
“That year I gave up pizza, sweets, pop and fast food for the whole year, even before COVID,” Vales said. “People said, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that for a week or a year.’
“I said, ‘Just do it for a day.’ If you do something for a day, you can handle it.”
That mantra will come in handy as Vales gears up for the biggest fight of his life. He was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma.
Vales began chemotherapy on Tuesday. The initial treatment plan is for six cycles of chemo, after which the doctors will reevaluate him.
It’s a scary diagnosis, yet Vales remains upbeat.
“I don’t take this cancer diagnosis as something that it’s going to be months and months with treatment,” Vales said. “When I wake up tomorrow, I’m just going to tackle what I need to take care of tomorrow and try to better myself.”
Vales is no stranger to cancer. As a sophomore in high school, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. Surgery and radiation cured him, but doctors have told him that the radiation could be the cause, 32 years later, of his current cancer.
“This is something they’ve had success with the regimen they use,” Vales said. “The doctor feels because of my age that the prognosis is good.”
Vales first noticed the swollen lymph node in his neck in late June but wasn’t worried because he felt fine. He went on a cruise to Mexico in early July, and in an eerie coincidence, attended a performance by comedian Derek Richards.
“It’s a crazy story,” Vales said. “At the end of it, he said, ‘I’m a 22-year cancer survivor, I have a book if anyone wants to read it.’
“I picked it up because I’m a cancer survivor myself and I read it. It was literally my story.”
Richards was diagnosed with the same cancer at age 32 after noticing swollen lymph nodes. So when Vales got home and his lymph node was still swollen, he got it checked out.
“He’s still doing good, so if I’ve got the same thing, it’s OK,” Vales said. “His story is my model.”
Vales has enjoyed a terrific 27-year career coaching boys and girls volleyball and teaching math at Sandburg. The 2021 inductee into the Sports Performance VBC/Illprepvb.com Illinois Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame has a combined career record of 803-262.
That includes a 444-147 mark on the girls’ side, where the Eagles have won 15 consecutive regional championships. They’ve done it without the stable of Division I stars many nearby programs have fielded. Vales noted that Bianca May, who walked on at Illinois, is the only Sandburg graduate in recent years to play at such a high level.
“Last year, we were around .500, but we beat Marist and Lyons and Oak Park-River Forest,” Vales said. “We beat Lincoln-Way Central, then beat Lincoln-Way East in the sectional semifinals, then lost to Joliet West in the sectional final.
“So we kind of already have that mindset.”
Vales has been touched by the support he’s received from his players and their parents.
“They’ve been great,” Vales said. “They gave me a great care package last week.
“I’m hearing from girls from 15-20 years ago reaching out sending me positive messages.”
In essence, they are merely returning the favor, as Vales has been a positive influence beyond just X’s and O’s. That process was taken to a new level during the pandemic, which gave him plenty of free time to immerse himself in self-help books.
“2020 was a pivotal year for me even before COVID,” Vales said. “My four kids were all teenagers at the time.
“January 1, I started reading a lot of books on mindset and health and how your brain works and making right decisions. I read 77 books that year, all nonfiction.”
He was quick to share what he gleaned.
“My whole goal that year was to be strong mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually,” Vales said. “Those are the four things that I focused on, and then shared with family.
“I send out daily quotes and I share a blurb with it. How can I implement this on the court and in the classroom? These girls that are here now, the seniors, they have come along with me on this ride. We already focus on that.”
Vales plans to continue coaching as much as he can through his upcoming treatment. On August 29, he underwent a bone marrow biopsy and echocardiogram in the morning, then drove to Mother McAuley to coach his players.
“Volleyball is my escape, I guess,” Vales said. “It will help me stay mentally strong through the whole thing knowing that people are counting on me.
“It’s stressful, but when you’ve coached 27 years, it’s more enjoyable watching the players play and just being able to play the sport.”
Vales’ eldest son, David, who played for his father and is now a senior at Concordia University-Chicago, is serving as an assistant coach this fall. He will run the team on any days Vales is not well enough to coach.
“COVID took away his senior year for volleyball,” Vales said. “Every season since we’ve been back, it’s just you never know when something can happen, so the goal is still to be on the sidelines.”
Vales is buoyed by the knowledge that his family, players and fellow coaches and teachers will be there for him every step of the way. That gives him strength for what lies ahead.
“I’m just going about my day,” Vales said. “I’m not dwelling on it.
“I know that I’m going to go through treatment. I’m eating right and exercising so when the chemo comes, I’ll fight it as best I can.”
And he’s determined to win that fight.
“You hear the C word, but it doesn’t have to steal your hope or your joy or your love,” Vales said. “You keep the faith. and it will all turn out.”
One day.