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Fair Lawn Soccer Coach Honors Mom, Breast Cancer Survivors Before Game

FAIR LAWN, N.J. — For one Fair Lawn soccer player, it's her aunt. For another, it's her mother.

Nancy VanSoest of Totowa, left, and Joan VanSoest of Parsippany will be honored at Wednesday's Fair Lawn girls soccer game against West Milford.

Nancy VanSoest of Totowa, left, and Joan VanSoest of Parsippany will be honored at Wednesday's Fair Lawn girls soccer game against West Milford.

Photo Credit: John VanSoest

For Coach John VanSoest, it's both his mother and his aunt.

The Fair Lawn soccer team will honor breast cancer survivors in a ceremony before Thursday's 4:30 p.m. game against West Milford at Sasso Field.

"It’s a nice thing to honor the people that have been through so much," VanSoest told Daily Voice. 

"We can only assume how difficult it is."

The coach was moved by a similar event he saw at a game last year against Passaic Valley. It seemed to have hit home.

VanSoest's mother, Nancy VanSoest of Totowa, beat colon cancer while he was in high school, and then breast cancer about a decade ago. His aunt, Joan VanSoest, is a breast cancer awareness trailblazer in Parsippany.

"Everyone will say their mom is the strongest woman they know," VanSoest told Daily Voice. 

"That definitely rings true here, as well.

"They’re fighters and they deserve to be recognized."

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