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EDEN — Sure, Jason Tuggle misses coaching. The winningest women's basketball coach in Greensboro College history recently took over as athletics director at Morehead High School, his alma mater, and he's still adjusting to coordinating bus routes instead of X's and O's.

But for Tuggle, who still lives a street over from the house in which he grew up, the understanding that life is about more than wins and losses has never been more clear. His mother, Jane, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September, and he said the opportunity to be around her more now is truly a blessing.

"I don't think people quite see that, as much as your job, family is what's important," Tuggle said.

Tuggle's family has been living "CAT scan to CAT scan" since the discovery, he said, as Jane, a retired Draper Elementary School teacher, has been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a rare form of the disease that has required additional treatment in Chapel Hill. She's the first woman in the family to have the disease, and she was fortunate to catch it early after another cancer diagnosis in the family prompted her to schedule a mammogram.

There have been good days and bad days, but Tuggle holds out hope for the woman who helped raise not just him but also his three daughters.

"Pretty much my whole life is fate and prayer. That's who I am," Tuggle said. "I pray for wisdom. I pray for the doctors to make the right decisions. I pray for the strength that as a family we stick together and understand these are difficult times. I put my trust in the Lord first that things will fall into place.

"We're hopeful that this is a good opportunity to go out and witness that things do work out, no matter what happens."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com