And even in her difficult time a year ago, she didn't lose her sense of humor. After Eustace lost the game to Lenape, she ribbed the team, suggesting that if the players were going to dedicate a game, they should win it.
Her son's reaction?
"She cracks me up," said Nick Hanuscin, a junior and a third-year starting defender.
Kathy Hanuscin kept her sense of humor even as she was losing her hair. Now the hair is back, she is in remission, and all seems so positive.
"The doctors say everything is fine, but as a cancer patient, you never take anything for granted," said Kathy Hanuscin, who along with husband John and their son live in Cinnaminson.
With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, countless teams such as Bishop Eustace, not only in South Jersey but nationwide, are bringing awareness to this disease.
So much good is being done by the athletes, coaches, administrators, and parents. Bishop Eustace, whose soccer team is again wearing pink warm-up shirts, symbolizes this effort.
And it has even more meaning for the soccer team since another parent, Monica Maiorino of Mount Laurel, is also a breast cancer survivor. Maiorino has two sons on the team: T.J. a senior defender, and Vince, a junior goalkeeper.
She was diagnosed five years ago, and since then, a neighbor's daughter, at age 11/2, was diagnosed with leukemia. Another friend's teenage son later was diagnosed with a form of cancer.
The little girl and boy have since passed away.
"Of the three of us, I am the only one here," Monica Maiorino said. "My boys have seen cancer from almost every angle and are very much aware and sensitive when it happens to a family member of somebody they know."
Monica Maiorino is a tireless supporter of fund-raising efforts. And she will talk to anybody who has to go through the pain she endured.
So it's no wonder that Monica and Kathy Hanuscin have developed a bond.
"She has been wonderful to me and so helpful," Hanuscin said.
