To emphasize that breast cancer can strike anyone, WNBA.com is featuring “Her Story,” a series of first-person tales from players telling the stories of loved ones who have been affected by the disease, throughout Breast Health Awareness Week. Fans who have also coped with breast cancer can post stories about themselves or those close to them on the site’s Fan Voice section. To share your experiences, please click here.

Her Story: Chasity Melvin, Washington Mystics

Both of my stories have to deal family - one is a family member, and the other, my coach, well she was like a family member.

My grandmother had breast cancer, she had it for a few years, but she fought through her breast cancer and she’s still alive today. She is 82. She had to have surgery and have everything removed to keep the breast cancer from spreading. This was many years ago and they have better treatments and better chemotherapy now. But it really took a toll on her more mentally than physically. As a woman and you lose vital parts of your body it's tough to deal with, especially if you are young. Basically she just had to be mentally tough to get through it, but it made her a stronger person.

She is alive and well today and still kicking. She’s always encouraged me and encouraged all of her grandkids that you can make it through whatever. My grandmother still drives and takes her friends to the doctor now. She never gets down about anything.

Coach Yow was the coach that recruited me from high school and I went to college at NC State where Coach Yow had already battled breast cancer before I got there and beat it. Just over the years it was reoccurring and she always fought it, she always beat it and she was always real positive every time her cancer would come back. She would keep working, she never took time off, she never let it get her down, and she never let us feel sorry for her.

Every time you talk to Coach Yow, even when she was battling her breast cancer, she was always asking you “How are you doing? What is going on with you?” I know I would call her during my various WNBA seasons or I would call her when I was overseas – whether it be in Israel or China or somewhere – and she would be like “How is it over there? How are you doing?” I’m like “Coach, I’m calling to check on you.”

She would never let it get her down and what I take from that, from the people that have survived breast cancer or cancer in general, is that you can’t look at it as it’s going to get me; you have to look at it from a positive standpoint and keep fighting it. You’ll live a lot longer if you just stay positive through the whole predicament. It’s not easy, but at the same time, when you’re positive, you can make it through anything.

Unfortunately the last time the cancer came back, it just took over all of Coach Yow’s body and it started spreading. This time she didn’t beat it. I was fortunate enough to visit her in the hospital in her last days. I was fortunate to be one of the players that got a chance to see her. She was still in good spirits. She felt good about the way she had lived her life and she didn’t feel that cancer had beat her. What I took from that and from seeing her on that last day is don’t let people tell you can’t do this or when the going gets tough during my season, no matter what I’m going through, nothing is so hard, and that somebody is always going through something harder than you.

With two people so close to me having breast cancer, it really raised my awareness about testing. With my grandmother, if she would have been tested earlier it probably could have saved her from a traumatic experience. But it happened to her when she was much younger, she was in her mid to late 20s. My grandmother’s sister also had to fight breast cancer. So especially with it reoccurring in our family, all of the women in the family we all have regular checkups and always try to eat healthy just because if it’s already in your family you have to stay on top of it. Even if it’s not you have to get a regular checkup and make sure you get checked because sometimes it just takes a lump to come and you never know if you don’t get the checkup.

I would just like to say to all of the women who have to fight breast cancer, it is important to have a great support group, people that are around you that are going to be positive. The biggest thing with Coach Yow and also my grandmother, they wanted people around them that were not going to give them a pity party. Be sure that the love and support is there, but just keep pushing them and just support them everyday because it’s really tough, especially that chemotherapy is really, really tough. I know with Coach Yow it just drained her spirits, but still she would try to smile. When you see a person going through that, it’s hard not to just feel sorry and sort of play the pity game, but at the same time you have to be really strong for that person that is going through it.