Lonni Alameda gave herself a few weeks to process the news of her breast cancer diagnosis.
It came as a shock, and before she sat down her Florida State softball team to break the news, she made a phone call.
The call?
She phoned FSU women's basketball head coach Brooke Wykcoff, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and has continued coaching the Seminoles while dealing with the new reality of her illness.
"I reached out to her because I was trying to really figure out how to navigate this, to then navigate the team," Alameda said. "That's the first thing. You got to get yourself going, and then you need to break it to your staff, and then break it to your team, right? So it was just, 'I don't know what's ahead of us, but this is our plan as we're moving forward.'
"Brooke has been really good and is in the same position."
That call and Alameda's connection with her team, which she describes as "family," led her to tell the team her news last week. She will continue to coach and has plans made with the team on how she'll balance those responsibilities and her health.
The Seminoles have won 13 straight games ahead of a week of big games that feature a rivalry showdown with No. 2 Florida Wednesday and a home series against Virginia, something Alameda is excited about. She knows the news of her diagnosis will surround the remainder of the season, but she and the team want to remain focused on the goal of competing for a national title.
She has praised the family-like connection of the Seminoles all year, and she said the team handled the news in the same way, rallying around her as family does.
"I've told you guys before, this is a very special team. It's a close-knit team, and so I knew that this might be news that maybe they've heard first time, or it could be triggering news for amount, amount of grounds that have gone through it, or moms that are going through it," Alameda said. "It's not something you want to share. And time to time, something from the outside comes in, and we handle it like a family, and they were incredible, and they've been very supportive."
Once Alameda and FSU softball made the news public on Monday, the Seminoles head coach said she received an outpouring of support from cancer survivors, colleagues, parents, fans and former players, among others.
Absolutely OVERWHELMED with the outpouring of support, kindness, texts, emails, socials, calls, etc. the passion ...
