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Lone Star rallies around Abilene Christian SID

By Nick Eatman
For NCAA.org

Over the course of five days this week in Bartlesville, Okla., 16 men’s and women’s teams will lay it on the line during the Lone Star Conference basketball championships. Words such as “battle” and “journey” and, of course, “adversity” will be used.

But sometimes the game of basketball can be secondary, especially in matters of life and death. For the Abilene Christian women’s team, members found an extra source of motivation this season, playing for something much bigger than a conference title.

Just before the start of the season, 8-year-old Rex Fleming, son of Abilene Christian’s longtime sports information director Lance Fleming, was diagnosed with a brain tumor that has required a removal operation, numerous tests and six weeks of radiation, all of which forced the family to temporarily relocate from Abilene to Fort Worth.

Doctors said 15 percent of the tumor was malignant, but through the radiation and treatment, Rex’s overall health has started to improve.

“He finished radiation on Feb. 11 and was back in school at Abilene on Valentine’s Day,” Lance said. “His three-month brain scan was clear. He’ll have another one in three months and we’ll sweat that out and hopefully it’s clear like the first one. So we’ll go from there.”

Women’s coach Shawna Lavender said her team has rallied around the situation.

“When it first happened, it was something we prayed about a lot in our team chapels and before practice,” Lavender said. “Even as an athletic department and as a university, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support he got from people on campus and in the community. It just shows what type of people there are in Abilene and for someone like Lance – he’s a great guy and a good family man. When something like that happens, it’s neat to see the support that you can be surrounded by at ACU.”

As for Lance, he’s the first one to admit that life goes on. And with that means work. Fortunately for him, he said the support he’s received from so many people, starting with his Abilene Christian family, has been “unbelievable,” but it doesn’t end there.

On Feb. 19, the Abilene community gave overwhelming support to the Fleming family in a Run4Fex 5K Walk/Run to help pay for the medical treatment.

Athletics Director Jared Mosley, a former Wildcat basketball standout, said the event exceeded expectations.

“We initially thought we could get about 150-200 runners and maybe raise about four or five thousand dollars,” Mosley said. “We ended up having over 750 participants and raised almost $25,000. Just to see that overwhelming support from not just ACU but people around Abilene who know Lance – it was just a real neat sight.”

Lance Fleming has lived his entire life in Abilene, graduating from Abilene High School (1987) and ACU (1992). While he’s been at Abilene Christian for the last 13 years, he and his family have been fixtures in that community for most of his life.

“I guess you don’t realize how much people are paying attention until something like this goes on,” Fleming said. “I’ve had so many phone calls and texts from not only my friends, but coaches and student-athletes. That just means a lot to our family. It’s helped Rex a lot, too.”

Fleming also got a surprise here in Bartlesville. Spearheaded by good friend and longtime Central Oklahoma sports information director Mike Kirk, Lone Star Conference SIDs presented Fleming with another donation at midcourt between the quarterfinal games Wednesday.

Fleming held his emotions in check as he graciously accepted the gesture and personally thanked all of them with a hug.

“This really, really means a lot to me,” Fleming said. “It means a lot to have this kind of support from the people I work with.”

But the support isn’t just confined to school and conference connections. Fleming said one of the best gestures the family received in this process was by Fort Worth Christian School, which allowed Rex to attend second-grade classes – free of charge – while he went through radiation treatments, preventing him from falling behind in class.

And one of Rex’s favorite moments was getting to meet Texas Rangers superstar and reigning MVP Josh Hamilton, who visited with Rex for about 10 minutes at an event in Fort Worth.

With fingers crossed, the Fleming family is hoping their journey continues in a positive manner.

Nick Eatman writes for the Lone Star Conference.