SPOKANE, Wash – Gonzaga women’s basketball coach Lisa Fortier announced Tuesday she’s battling breast cancer and has been since February.
Fortier made the announcement in a video posted to Twitter.
She said she was diagnosed on February 6, meaning she was coaching with cancer into the NCAA tournament.
Fortier had surgery in April and has been going through treatment this summer.
She said she took some time away from the team to focus on her family and work from home.
“When someone tells you that you have stage 2/3 breast cancer and it’s spread to your lymph nodes, it’s startling,” she said in the video online. “Once you get over the shock, it doesn’t take very long to realize, just the beautiful life that we get to live and we only get one of them.”
“It’s really important to love your people well and not let life pass you by,” she said.
Fortier said she’s still undergoing treatment, she’s feeling good, and she’s ready for the season to come.
She expressed her gratitude for her family and for the Gonzaga community.
Fortier has been the head coach at Gonzaga since 2014; she served seven seasons as an assistant before that.
Her husband Craig Fortier is an assistant coach. They have three children.
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