Purdue Coach Versyp Diagnosed With Cancer
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue women’s basketball coach Sharon Versyp, a former star player at Mishawaka High School, has revealed that she has breast cancer.
The 11th-year coach revealed on Monday she’s been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. According to the press release, Versyp is in the early stages of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive cancer. Versyp is still discussing treatment options with her physicians and is encouraged with the prognosis.
“It’s a type of cancer that is contained right now. If you’re going to have it, it’s the best one to have,” Versyp said Monday night during her weekly radio show, according to the Lafayette Journal Courier. “I’m going to be fine, but you have to be aggressive in what you’re going to do.”
Versyp said early detection was the key. She undergoes annual mammograms and during “the last one, something came up,” Versyp said.
Versyp has no plans to miss any of Purdue’s upcoming postseason games. The Boilermakers won’t find out their destination — NCAA or WNIT — until March 13.
“It’s not taking me away from the job I love and the family I love – our kids, our players, our staff, the Purdue community. It’s a process of trying to figure it all out,” said Versyp, the program’s all-time winningest coach.
Versyp won the 1984 Miss Basketball Award following her stellar prep career at Mishawaka. She then went on to an outstanding career at Purdue, where she was a four-year starter and an All-American for the Boilermakers. Versyp was a head coach at both Lawrence North and Benton Central high schools before being hired at Purdue.