Lubbock little league coach beats cancer while coaching team

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A little league coach in Lubbock just finished chemotherapy, but that’s the second crowning achievement for Jesus Martinez this week.

Martinez signaled his last chemotherapy treatment by ringing the bell, after a long journey that started earlier this year.

His wife, Maria, said, “In January, he was going in to get his tonsils removed and the doctor came out and told me while he was still in there that it came back with cancer.”

Jesus, a volunteer little league coach, started treatment last month for neck and throat tumors.

“He did radiation every day of the week for the last seven weeks and chemo once each week,” Maria said. “So he’s been fighting that while he’s been trying to coach the Rangers.”

Through it all, he was there for his family and his team.

“He’s used to being the man of the house and that’s what he likes to do,” his son Xavier said. “He don’t like to see us doing anything for him.”

And the family was there for him, too.

“And he says to me, like every time he eats or drinks, he says his kid’s name, each one, and mine,” Maria said. “Then he says what he’s got to look forward to and what he’s fighting for. Each time, so that he can try to be as strong as he can.”

Last weekend, the Rangers won first place in a league playoff tournament. Next, they go to the city-wide playoffs in June. After that, thanks to the Rangers’ success, Jesus will coach the Lubbock All-Stars, the city’s best players, on the long road to the Little League World Series.

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