The Mukes family planned a trip to Hawaii to celebrate Sydney Mukes’ high school graduation in May, her commitment to LSU and her mother Sharon being cancer free for five years.
To freshman outside hitter Sydney, it was more than a trip.
However, the family had to cancel its plans because doctors diagnosed Sharon with breast cancer for the second time on Jan. 1.
The five-year period after a cancer patient goes through treatment is vital, Sharon said. If a patient has no signs of cancer during that time frame, it is most likely gone.
But Sharon was diagnosed again in her fifth, and most likely, final year. She said she thought she’d seen the last of the disease when she was first diagnosed in 2011.
“[We] had to re-adjust and make the most out of Sydney’s senior moments while I was going through chemotherapy and not feeling well,” Sharon said. “It was devastating because you have all these dreams and hopes of what senior year is going to be like.”
On days Sharon felt sick, Sydney would join her in bed and recount the day’s events.
But soon after graduating, Sydney would have to leave her mom behind. She would travel more than 13 hours from her family’s home in Morrow, Ohio, to join LSU’s volleyball team for the summer.
“It was definitely really, really hard this second time around, especially being far away from home [and] from her when this was going on,“ Sydney said.
After committing to the team in November, she was hesitant to leave. Sydney began rethinking her decision to attend the summer session, but her mom encouraged her to take advantage of the opportunity.
Sharon reassured Sydney that she’d be OK.
Taking a leap of faith, Sydney left home, but her mom couldn’t get rid of her that easily.
“I basically talked to her every day,” Sydney said. “I always would ask her how she’s feeling and how she’s doing.”
Sydney said her teammates and the coaching staff made the situation easier to handle, and they eventually became her second family. The concern and love she felt was just what she needed to stay strong.
Sharon said she also had to stay strong because she was her children’s role model.
“I had my moments of feeling down, but I wouldn’t stay in that spot for long because I have to stay strong for the kids and be positive,” Sharon said. “I have a positive outlook and attitude that I want them to carry on in their life and whatever obstacles they encounter.”
For her, dancing was medicine for the soul. It kept her positive despite her condition.
She would dance at the halfway point, throughout the treatment and at the end of each chemotherapy session.
Sharon said she’s always been a music lover and her favorite quote to live by comes from writer and artist Vivian Greene: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”
Sharon said she once asked her nurse to record her dancing with her husband to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” when she finished chemotherapy.
When she was done with radiation, she danced to her “all-time favorite anthem song,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Catch My Breath.”
Sharon received videos of family and friends dancing. The Tigers even sent Sharon a recording of them dancing while wearing pink to show their support.
As of Thursday, Sharon has finished chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, and the doctors say her prognosis is good and she is cancer free. She said she is hopeful that it is all behind her.
“It just really puts things in perspective of what’s important,” Sharon said. “I’m reprioritizing wanting to spend more time with my kids, even though Sydney is so far away.”
Sydney and Sharon’s relationship has grown closer, first with Sharon’s rediagnosis and again with Sydney so far from home.
Sydney said she dedicates everything she does on the court to her mom.
“When I’m on that court and out there, I’m playing for my mom because she has gone through so much and I know if she can fight through that, I can fight through anything,” Sydney said.

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Emily Brauner

LSU freshman outside hitter Sydney Mukes (19) prepares to return the ball during the Tigers' 3-1 loss against Southern Miss on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.