Rankin323web

Be Where
Your Feet Are
Leigh Ramsey
“The first diagnosis was a gut punch. I was single then,
but it hits a whole new level when you’re married with young kids.”
Coach KK Aldridge, the head baseball
coach, and economics teacher at Northwest
Rankin High School, shared that his first
thoughts after hearing his cancer had
returned were his young kids. The coach,
and his wife, Malorie, a history teacher and
assistant volleyball coach at NWRHS, have
three children, Acey, a five-year-old boy,
Kaynslie, a three-year-old girl, and Kayde, a
20-month-old boy. Coach Aldridge shared
that his original diagnosis came after he had
a swollen lymph node that wouldn’t go
down in 2012. He was diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma. The
treatment route he and the doctors chose
was to remove that lymph node and use a
“watch and see” approach. For ten years
he’d get an annual check-up with no
issues—until the spring of 2022.
The coach began having stomach pains
that would come and go throughout the
summer. On August 6, 2022, his blood work
showed an elevated white cell count. Doctors
tried to reach KK on the phone, but were
unable to do so. When they called Malorie,
she said God told her to answer the phone,
even though she normally would not have
answered for a number she did not recognize.
The doctor said that KK needed to go
to the emergency room. There, they ran a
CT and found a softball sized mass in his
abdomen and several small masses throughout
his abdomen and pelvic region. His biopsy
results eventually led to the diagnosis of
large B cell lymphoma.
He began his first chemo treatment in
September. Doctors also realized the coach’s
hemoglobin levels were low and he was
anemic. He had to have a blood transfusion
the same time as his first chemo treatment.
Because of this need, three different
community groups were inspired to hold
blood drives. First Baptist Church of Fannin,
Pisgah High School, and Northwest Rankin
High School all held blood drives, which
benefited many people in the community.
Thankfully, one transfusion and an iron
infusion was enough to get the coach’s
levels where they needed to be.
Coach Aldridge continued a couple
more rounds of chemo, but the oncologist
could not tell if it was working. KK was sent
to a surgeon to get a bigger biopsy. He was
told that during the biopsy, if the surgeon
found that the cancer was more intrusive,
they might take the cancerous areas out.
On December 6, KK went into surgery for a
biopsy. Doctors wound up removing a foot
and a half of his small intestine, the mass,
and his appendix. He had to recover for six
weeks. At the time of the interview, the
coach had only been back at work for a
week. The biopsy revealed that there were
no live cancer cells and the chemotherapy
was working.
Hometown RANKIN • 23