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Krebs family aims to stay strong together

Mother's battle with cancer gives guard different perspective on life

Mark Cornelison | Staff

Terri Krebs, mother of Mark Krebs, watched the Big Blue Madness festivities with her granddaughter, Peyton Hester, in Rupp Arena on Friday night.

Kentucky basketball means a lot of things to a lot of people. For senior guard Mark Krebs, it is an escape.

It's a respite from thinking about his mother's ongoing battle with cancer.

"It's on my mind a lot," Krebs said during UK's Media Day on Thursday. "I wonder how she's doing. Is she all right today? Does she have chemo today? How are her blood counts doing?"

The UK player spoke admiringly of his mother's spirit. "She's definitely a fighter," he said.

When she turned 40 eight years ago, Terri Krebs thought it was time for a checkup. The diagnosis of breast cancer floored her. Her doctor gave her six to nine months to live.

"I cried," Terri said. "I just wanted to keep the house and keep the kids in Catholic education. And I did it."

Besides Markie, the name Terri uses for her older son, the Krebs have a daughter, Mandy, 27, and a son, Andrew, 18, a freshman at UK.

When talking about her initial reaction to hearing she probably would not live more than nine months, Terri's voice cracked.

"Just what I was going to miss," she said. "And I have a big family. We all are really close. So that really helped. I knew, even if I died, (her children) would be loved."

Terri, now 48, continues to live. But it's getting progressively harder for her and her family.

"The first six years, she was the normal, good ol' mom," Krebs said. "The last couple years, it's tough to see her suffer."

His mother has undergone more than 340 chemotherapy treatments since the diagnosis. In the last six months, she's had two surgeries.

"I never hated cancer till July," she said. In January, doctors declared that her spine was free of cancer. By July, the breast cancer had spread to her bones, lungs and liver.

"It's terminal cancer," Krebs said. "There's no remission in sight."

By July, Terri grew too weak to stand. She's confined to a wheelchair.

"I'm used to being a take-control kind of girl," she said. "Now I have to wait for people to do for me. It's awful."

Krebs and his mother form a mutual-admiration tandem. He admires her fight and determination not to let cancer consume her thoughts.

She admires her son's devotion to her. He calls several times a day and always before he goes to sleep. She also is proud of his competitiveness.

Upon graduating from Newport Catholic, he attended Thomas More College to stay nearby.

Krebs, whose father was a longtime high school coach, decided to transfer to UK and attempt to walk on to the basketball team the next year.

"We thought he was kind of crazy," Terri said. "... He said, 'Five years from now, I don't want to sit back and say I wish I tried this. I just want to do it and then, no regrets.' "

Terri recalled dropping her son off at Haggin Hall in 2006. "He sat on a bench in front of Haggin Hall saying, 'I don't know if I want to cry or throw up,' " she said.

In his three UK seasons, Krebs has had to prove himself to three coaches: Tubby Smith, Billy Gillispie and now John Calipari.

A crowning moment came this summer when Calipari awarded Krebs a scholarship.

Terri recalled her son calling and saying, "Mom, I'm so excited, I'm peeing nickels."

The scholarship helped ease Terri's guilt about the money spent on her cancer treatments. It also helps lessen the loans, already totalling as much as $60,000, that Krebs will have to repay.

It's not an entirely sad story, Krebs said. His mother's cancer united the family. It gave the family perspective. "You don't sweat the small stuff in life," he said.

His mother soldiers on, holding on tight to reasons to live. One was the birth of her first grandchild in March.

When asked about her future, Terri's voice cracked again. "It's not good," she said. "I just take it one day at a time."

Her Catholic faith does not remove the fear of death.

"I'm scared," she said. "If anybody says they're not, they're crazy. Everybody is."

Meanwhile, she continues to look for reasons to live. She has her next goal in mind.

"Senior Night," she said brightly.

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