Chester coach has community support during his battle through cancer

CHESTER, Ill. (KBSI) – A father, husband, and coach for the girls’ softball and basketball teams at Chester High School that’s been battling leukemia since 2017. 

He is now shocked to see the gym filled with orange ribbons and T-shirts everywhere to honor him. 

The shirt saying Coach Jeff on the front and his fight is my fight on the back is being worn by 250 people in the Chester gym to show their gratitude to their beloved coach and friend. 

“No matter what he’s fighting, we are fighting together,” said Lexie Mott. 

Lexie Mott is Jeff’s daughter. She has had her dad coach her on the softball field, basketball court, and life. 

“We thought it was, like, gone for like a while and that he was doing okay when it came back. I knew that I was going to be okay because like last time, like, we already went through it, like, once or like I had a feeling like it was going to be okay,” said Lexie Mott. 

Jeff’s Cancer started in 2017. He was in remission for a few years until he found out this past September his leukemia came back, and he had to start chemo treatments again in January of 2025.

Overall, Jeff has not battled this fight alone. 

“I mean, the supports been good, so I get good support from the family, the kids, the school. So it’s just it’s something you just everybody deals with. So, you just get through it. You keep fighting and you get through it,” said Jeff Mott. 

This small fundraiser being in the works for the past couple of weeks left Jeff stunned as he had no idea his name would be on hundreds of people’s chest tonight. 

“I actually had no clue. I actually stood here and talked to him for about five minutes earlier and still didn’t realize it until one of them brought it up, so yeah, I had no clue. It was a complete surprise,” said Jeff Mott. 

Adrienne Caby is a mom of two daughters that Jeff coaches. She knows the Mott family never asks for anything but to show her thanks she wanted to do something to pay forward. 

Caby says it was easy getting the community together to support a guy like Jeff. 

“They are the type of family who would ever ask for anything from anyone. They are truly the definition of pay it forward. Just as a school and as a basketball team. I was discussing this with some of the moms, and we decided that we just need to do something to show our support and that we’re all here and we’re all behind him, and that we just want to give back to him,” said Caby.

For Lexie, helping host a small fundraiser for her dad was hard to keep a secret but it was easy on her heart. 

“A lot of people behind him and a lot of, like, support and a lot of people that, like, care about him,” said Lexie Mott. 

Over a thousand dollars was raised for Jeff without him knowing. The money will be given to him after the game.