CINCINNATI, Ohio — Just a year ago, Mount Notre Dame’s basketball team got the call that the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state tournament was canceled. And for Abby Wolterman, she thought it couldn’t get much worse until her dad was diagnosed with cancer this season. 

​​Bob Wolterman was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December. But he hasn't let that stop him from going to any of his daughter's games.

“I won’t miss a game," he said. "I’m not missing a game."

Abby, a junior on the team, took to her teammates when she found out the news.

“I just needed friends," Abby said. "I needed someone to comfort me. And so my mom talked to me and said we gotta tell your team and I told her I agreed because they’re my best friends. I’m in season. I needed them.”

Her team embraced her, even surprising her and her dad with purple shirts, the color for Hodgkin lymphoma, before a game.

“I looked up and saw the purple shirts and I just broke down and just cried," Abby said. "It was a great surprise.”

The Wolterman family said the entire Mount Notre Dame community has helped uplift them the last several months.

“You don’t realize how many people care about you until something like this happens and how many people reached out to you and you know these people," Bob Wolterman said. "But then they reach out to you and they do things for you and you’re like, 'Oh my gosh.”

“These kids are so close," Kendra Wolterman, Bob's wife and Abby's mom said. "They are way more than teammates. I know a lot of schools and a lot of teams say sisterhood, family — that’s just the culture in this school. They all live and breathe that.”

Abby said it’s been hard to balance school, the uncertainties of the pandemic and a state run in basketball. But she’s grateful for her coach who reminded her that the sport should be her outlet.

“He was like, this is your out," Abby said. "You get to come here for two hours and just be with your friends and not have to think about everything. I kind of kept that in the back of my mind for a little bit.”

Bob said watching his daughter play has been a silver lining of his diagnosis.

“She’s such a good daughter," he said. "I mean just listening to her talk and the things she’s saying. She’s so mature for a 17-year-old. I mean, I told her when you have lymphoma or cancer it’s hard. And I told her the greatest moments are when you don’t remember that you have it and those moments are when I’m watching her play basketball.”

And now the family is all smiles after getting great news just last week.

“Everything’s going perfect," he said. "So having a negative PET scan really further increases my chances. It would be better not to have it, but things couldn’t be going better right now.”

And now that her dad is officially in remission, Abby said she can focus on the final goal of winning state, something she knows she wouldn’t have been able to do without her team and school’s support.

“The support is just crazy," Abby said. "I feel so grateful to be a part of such a great community.”

Mount Notre Dame plays Toledo Notre Dame Academy  at 8 p.m. Friday. If they win, the team plays in the state championship at 8 p.m. on Saturday.