Harker Heights Community Rallies Around Teacher-Coach After Cancer Diagnosis
A local leader and family needs their community right now.
If you attend a Harker Heights football game in the next few weeks, you might see more than just a few yellow t-shirts that say "Knight Strong for Coach Rob" being donned. Coach Rob is short for Coach Kye Robertson, a Varsity high school coach for Harker Heights baseball and also coaches on the football team. Already 500 shirts have been sold and more are expected to be sold at tonight's game.
The impact he has made as a teacher and coach shines through the compassion of his students and players.
This past Monday, September 26, Kye was diagnosed with Myeloid Sarcoma/soft tissue leukemia - a form of Acute Myeloid Leukemia that requires a very aggressive form of chemotherapy. He has a tumor that has spread from the left sacrum to the left femur and now to the right sacrum.
Kye was dealing with back pain all summer and had a herniated disc removed before the beginning of the school year, but the pain persisted. He had to have a second operation, which was when they discovered the tumor. Kye has been going to and from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for treatment.
Already on Facebook you can find the #TeamKye profile picture. People are buying shirts to help support Kye and his family. Their crowdfunding campaign on www.youcaring.com is going strong. Even his entire baseball team stepped up, doing yard work at their Harker Heights home while Kye, his wife Maci and their children, Kolt (age 4) and Kynzlee (age 2), were in Houston. Each example of support not only makes a difference, but is also a direct reflection of our coaches/teachers and the community they make a difference in.
Kye moved to Ft. Hood, Killeen when he was 18 months old. His wife of six years, Maci, was born in Temple and grew up in Killeen. They met in college at Tarleton State University - Maci calls them college sweethearts. But the amazing thing about love is it happens when you least expect it. Maci used to watch Kye play high school baseball at Killeen all the time, but she just didn't know who he was back then. She would go to watch her friends' boyfriend play - all it took to get to know each other and fall in love was a 100-mile drive to Stephenville.
Maci wanted to thank everyone for the community outreach.
Everyone is reaching out to us thorugh word of mouth. The support is amazing as people are offering to help us before we can even ask. From gift cards to thinking-of-you-cards to prayers to offering to do our grocery shopping for us, I just wanted to say thank you.
If you would like to help Coach Rob and his Harker Heights family there are multiple ways to do so. Come out to a Harker Heights football game and purchase a "Knight Strong for Coach Rob" shirt, put #TeamKye on your Facebook or for monetary support you can donate at their YouCaring campaign. All proceeds will go to Kye's medical expenses. Over 970 people have already shared his story and over $9,000 in funds have been generated, but they have a lot more to go to meet their estimates.