Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Pat Summit has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and Twitter wants her to know they are praying for her.
During her 37 year career as coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, Summit has collected 1,071 career victories and eight national championships, according to ESPN.
She has won more NCAA basketball games than any men’s or women’s coach in history, according to the Associated Press.
“Earlier this year, the doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed me with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type at the age of 59,” Summit said in a video posted on YouTube. “I plan to continue to be your coach. For that reason I will be relying on my outstanding coaching staff like never before.”
Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia that can cause memory, thinking, and behavior problems, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The disease worsens over time and there is no cure.
More than 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and of those, 5.2 million are 65 and over, according to statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association.
Following her announcement, Summit has been a top trending topic on Twitter where she has been mentioned more than 4,000 times in the last 24 hours, according to statistics from Topsy, a social media search engine.
Here are some tweets from people wishing Summit best wishes on her journey.
Image by aaronisnotcool.