In May 2022, Renee Phillips’s life was turned upside down when her husband, Doug, was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
“It’s something that you are not aware of until you go through it,” Phillips said. “Our lives just changed that day, forever. Now, we just try to cherish every moment that we have together and live and do things that we had said we would do in the future, but we do them now. We go on trips, we take our kids places, we spend time together and just try to enjoy every day together.”
Thanks to surgery and six weeks of chemo and radiation, Doug is still with his family, enjoying the time they have together.
Throughout this whole ordeal, however, there was a team behind Phillips and her family, and not a metaphorical one either.
She is a member of the Magnolia Tennis Club in Columbus, and the members of the club were with her every step of the way.
“I’ve been playing for almost three years and I love it,” Phillips said. “I’ve met a lot of friends here that I didn’t know and reconnected with old friends. They’ve just become family. They’ve supported Doug and I through this whole process. They brought us meals last year.”
Tennis became an outlet for Phillips, and she takes the court any chance she can.
“So, tennis has really just become my outlet,” she said. “My therapist tells me to imagine the tennis ball as glioblastoma and just go knock the crap out of it.”
This love of tennis inspired her to make a request of the club.
Throughout the year it hosts mixers, where players from within and outside of the club can register and play, usually to raise money for a cause.
Phillips approached the club’s board and asked to do one for brain cancer awareness.
“We have different mixers and tournaments at the tennis club all through the year,” she said. “May is Brain Cancer Awareness month, so we decided to do one.”
The event took place Tuesday and there was a huge turnout.
“We were very excited to have this many people,” board president Mary Margaret Swedenburg said. “We had 43 people participate, which is good for a Tuesday morning. There were some who took off work to come.”
Swedenburg said the decision to host the mixer was an easy one, since it was a cause that hit home for a member.
“We do mixers all of the time and the ladies get excited about any opportunity to come out and play in a social situation, and they were extra excited to support the member who is going through this,” Swedenburg said.
Participants paid a $25 entry fee, but many made separate donations as well.
The proceeds from the event do not go to the club, however, and are going to be donated to MD Anderson, the cancer center where Phillips’s husband had his surgery.
The exact amount of money raised was undetermined, but with the turnout, the club expected it to be a good amount.
Phillips herself took the court for the mixer and played a doubles match with April Barlow as her partner.
Players are grouped together based on their tennis rating, which is their skill level, and play for a couple of hours.
Phillips was surprised by the turnout, because there was no way to gauge how many people would show up.
“They didn’t have to preregister, people just showed up today, so we had no idea how many people would come,” Phillips said. “We were really surprised that this many showed up to play and support us.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion