Coach doesnt let MS defeat her

Tampa Prep girls soccer coach doesn't let MS defeat her

TAMPA — Tampa Prep girls soccer coach Cindy Schofield was once the best high school players in the state of Florida, then she rewrote the record books at Florida State.

But last month, the 28-year-old accomplished perhaps her greatest feat.

She finished a 5K.

Schofield finished last month's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in St. Petersburg in 36:49 — 553rd overall. Every stride was a challenge. Throughout the race, Schofield was worried her legs might tangle and she'd tumble to the ground.

The true magnitude of her finish, however, lies in Schofield's sometimes tumultuous, other times uplifting journey of the past two years.

"A tearful thing to watch," Schofield's father, Bob, said of watching his daughter cross the finish among a pack of runners. "To know what she had to got through to get there, before everything came so easy. Now, nothing was easy."

Schofield was in and out of hospital beds two years ago, first given a death sentence when she was told she had a brain tumor and just two years to live. Two rounds of chemotherapy followed, then she was told she didn't have a tumor, but multiple sclerosis.  more