A coach’s fight, a team’s surprise: Lauren Cost’s journey off the court

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou volleyball assistant coach Lauren Cost spends her days pouring into her players, but one October night, the Tigers found a way to pour some of that some love right back into her.

The team surprised Cost with a show of support for a coach whose fight against breast cancer tested her in ways no sport ever could.

"I can't even really describe how much it meant to me," Cost said.

For Cost, the moment was a remind that the relationships that she built on the court extend far beyond just the game.

"She came in here with just this soft aura around her," rightside hitter Kimani Johnson said.

"She's so amazing. You just forget because she's coaching, like she's been through so much. And so in that moment, I was like, she really is just superwoman," outside hitter Paige Felder added.

But behind all the smiles that came with that heartfelt surprise is a journey that began with something that the Tiger volleyball assistant knew didn't feel right.

"I was just feeling really uncomfortable right around where your sports bra sits on your skin," she said. "I'm like, gosh, that seems weird, and ended up finding a couple of lumps that hadn't been there before."

Around October of 2024, Cost learned she had breast cancer, something that roughly one in every eight women in the United States will battle in their lifetime.

"I had finally gotten to the age where I had to have mammograms, and so it wasn't even a year before," she said. "And this thing just pops into your body that's trying to kill you."

Her diagnosis was followed closely by chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy and radiation. Then, came complications that made an already difficult fight even harder.

Cost developed a staph infection that left her serious ill. She also underwent more unplanned surgeries, including an appendectomy after she got appendicitis.

That period of time, including all the setbacks, took a toll on her both physically and mentally.

"The hardest part was after getting a staph infection," Cost said. "So, you feel like you're moving ahead, moving ahead, moving ahead, and then going backwards. And it just seemed too much. It seemed like more than I could handle. So, I really struggled with that one. I didn't understand why. Why did I even make it?"

During some of those lowest moments, Cost said a couple of things kept her going.

Of course, her family was there through it all.

"My daughter came to me. She’s like, 'Mom, I'm so glad you’re alive,'" Cost recalled. "You're like, okay, that's why I'm here."

But, she also credited her faith.

"I think it’s just strength on loan from God," she said. "It was not me, you know, because it just takes you. You go to places you don’t want to go to, and have to deal with things that just aren't comfortable."

Now, Cost is continuing to rebuild her strength, as she has found another family to support her in Columbia. And that family wanted to make sure she knew how much she means to them.

"Showing the same type of love that she gives to us," Johnson said. "I feel like sometimes it might look like it's overlooked, but just really buying into showing Lauren how much we actually love and care for her."

As both a coach and a player, Cost has spent so much of her life teaching others how to be strong, but her experience offered a different lesson, as well.

Strength can mean allowing yourself time to heal. It can mean giving yourself grace. And sometimes, it also means letting the people around you help carry some of the weight.

"I think I just keep telling myself it's not even been two years yet," Cost said.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cost said she hopes her story can encourage others to listen to their bodies, trust their instincts and allow others to help lift them up.

"Trust yourself, take care of yourself," she said. "People want to help. They just don't always know how. So it's okay to give them some direction."

For the Mizzou volleyball assistant coach, the road to recovery is still unfolding. But surrounded by her family, her faith and her on-the-court family, she has seen first-hand that strength isn't always about standing on your own.

Sometimes, it's about letting some else stand beside you.