Amidst Cancer Battle, Determined Alabama Father Escorts Daughter As She’s Crowned Homecoming Queen

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

On September 29, Carrie Yancey could feel her heart beating out of her chest as she watched her husband and their youngest daughter walk 50 yards to the center of the football field at Southside High School in Southside, Alabama.

"Tears just rolled down my face," Carrie told People.

It was homecoming, and the longest 47-year-old Brett Yancey, who has been battling esophageal cancer for more than six years, has walked in a long time.

“Brett has fought so hard,” Carrie told WVTM13. “He’s a true warrior. The news we received at yesterday’s doctor’s visit was not good, but we are staying strong. We’re consulting with doctors to come up with our next course of action.”

Carrie said that prior to that night, Brett hadn’t even had enough energy to walk from the bed to the bathroom and was struggling to lift his left leg. She worried that her husband of 25 years would be too tired to escort their daughter during the halftime ceremony.

“We told Brett that we would take him to meet Sara Kate on a golf cart,” Carrie told the local news outlet. “Brett has been very feeble—he carries oxygen with him—we were wondering if he could make it from the visitor's sideline across the field to the home sideline."

But Brett was determined.

“I don't need a golf cart—I'm going to walk my baby to the opposite sideline,” he told his wife.

Brett held tightly to 17-year-old Sara Kate as she was crowned homecoming queen.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Carrie told WVTM13. “Sara Kate was crowned homecoming queen, and in a way, it gave my husband a burst of energy,” she added. “In a way, it was a cherry on top of his battle.”

Carrie and Brett’s two older daughters, Savanna, a nurse, and Sydney, a student at University of Alabama, were also in the stands to watch their father defy the odds. They'll get through what comes next together, just like they always have.

“We’re taking it day by day,” Carrie said. “I just know that my family has been blessed.”

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