Coaches share cancer battles at support group meeting

POST FALLS — Several young men sat in the front row during a cancer support meeting Thursday night, listening to local coaches share their cancer journeys.

Coeur d'Alene High School's volunteer coach Bruce Miller and Post Falls High School's coach Jeff Hinz both spoke at the meeting.

"Even though you’re sick, getting out on the field is living," Miller said to the younger men. "You can stay at home and die or you can get out and live. For me, I like to live. And Jeff too. That’s why he’s fighting too. We like to live, and you guys help us do that."

Both coaches have had rough battles with cancer, but remain as active as possible with their coaching to continue providing leadership and being role models for the young men they coach. They spoke to about 30 people who attended An Evening of Hope: Community Cancer Group about their journeys with cancer.

Miller discussed discovering his cancer at age 42, which included a tumor in his spinal cord, and the radiation he had to endure in his throat and the back of his neck.

"That’s why I don’t have much of a voice," he said. "It took me 10 years to get my tastebuds back. I still can’t hardly talk. These are the blessings of cancer. They just keep on giving."

His cancer is gone for now, but it has disappeared and returned several times through the years. It also caused mental, emotional and marital problems for him, but he continues to work as a coach because he loves it.

"I just try to live life and enjoy everything as much as I can," Miller said. "I love working with teenagers."

Hinz discussed when he discovered that he had cancer, which began with what seemed to be a charley horse that wouldn't go away in 2013. On that Thanksgiving morning, his leg gave out.

"We have a second story to our home," he said. "I grabbed the railing, I take my first step down on that first step and my whole leg just explodes. I broke my femur just below my hip joint and you could hear that sucker pop.

"I didn't know what was wrong with me."

It was discovered that he had a "non-smoker's lung cancer," which included a tumor in his leg that had weakened his femur.

Through surgeries, feelings of paralysis and days both good and bad, Hinz has continued to coach. The young men in the front row that night were football players on Hinz's team. They were present to support Hinz and Miller as they shared their stories.

"He had a surgery one morning and he tried to be at the practice," PFHS senior Zach Hillman, a safety and wide receiver, said of Hinz. "We have double days, and he’d have surgery in the morning and be out there for the second practice. That’s just truly inspirational. It just shows how hard he’s going to battle and he’s never going to give up. It’s an inspiration to all of us.

"It really shows what kind of coach he is. He’s not just coaching us to win football games, he’s coaching us because he cares. If he’s going to go through a surgery on one day and the next day try to be at practice that shows how much he cares. That shows how strong a man he is, and it’s really inspirational to all of us."

PFHS junior and quarterback Mark Haines said it's emotional for him and his teammates to know what these coaches go through on a daily basis.

"It teaches beyond the game always to keep fighting no matter what the situation is, no matter what you’re going through, always keep pushing," Haines said. "Whenever you’re feeling down or anything like that, there’s always something worse."

Haines said Hinz has always pushed the athletes to do their very best, no matter what, just as he pushes himself.

"He’s been coaching me since fourth grade. He’s always pushed us and just to see him keep pushing himself, even through all these hard times — it’s definitely an extra motivator," he said.