Kathy Combest on road to recovery

By ADAM PRUIETT

adamp@nwfdailynews.com

BAKER - Kathy Combest mixed the eggs, butter and sugar into a creamy sauce and poured it on warm biscuits, a classic recipe of her mom Louise. Her first savory bite had been months in waiting.

"When I finally could taste, I made (the dish). It was like Ohhhh," Combest said.

The fact that her food had tasted like "pure lard" was one of the many effects of the breast cancer she was diagnosed with around August of last year. But now, after six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments, Combest recently found out that her cancer is in remission.

"I feel great," the legendary Baker volleyball and basketball coach said. "Everything tastes great now. I'm getting hair."

As a result of chemotherapy, Combest had lost all the hair on her body, not to mention about 18 pounds from an already skinny frame. With meals like the aforementioned egg butter, she's gained back 13 pounds and her hair has grown back about an inch and a half.

She still wears a wig, which has been a constant source of humor for a woman who never takes herself too seriously, even when battling cancer. She admits that one of her wigs got burned when she bent down while using the oven and, during basketball season, she'd often hurl her hairpiece on the court during practice when the Gators played poorly.

"Hair or not, nothing's going to stop her," said daughter Chelsea, a point guard on the basketball team and setter on the volleyball team.

Combest, 50, had to miss a few basketball games this season due to the effects of chemotherapy and wasn't on hand when Chelsea surpassed 1,000 points for her career. She had to take it easy at home as well, with husband Steve assuming the role of Mr. Mom and Chelsea chipping in whenever she could.

"When somebody goes from doing everything to not doing anything, it's such a big change," Chelsea said. "It's like me and dad were spoiled and then all of the sudden it's just gone. You have to do so much more. It all comes at once."

Combest retired from coaching volleyball after collecting over 500 wins in 22 seasons, but she'll still work the sidelines during basketball. The former professional hoops player is hoping she'll do it cancer-free from now on.

"When she told me (the cancer was in remission)," Chelsea said, "I was just like, ‘Sweet!' It wasn't really a surprise because I just knew it was gone. All I needed was for her to know. She worried about it."