KNOXVILLE – Pat Summitt’s family said Sunday that the last few days have been difficult for the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health, her family issued a statement asking for prayers and saying that the 64-year-old Summitt is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her. It also asked for privacy.
The statement was posted on the Pat Summitt Foundation’s website and was issued by Erin Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Summitt family.
Former Tennessee player Tamika Catchings was flying to Knoxville to visit the coach instead of returning to Indiana with the WNBA’s Fever. Other former players were issuing support on Twitter through the “PrayForPat” hashtag. Phoenix Mercury center and Tennessee alum Isabelle Harrison said former Lady Volunteers players were keeping up with Summitt’s situation in a group text-message chain.
“There are like 30 of us in a group chat right now talking, and people are flying into Knoxville and trying to see her,” Harrison said Sunday after the Mercury’s victory over the New York Liberty. “You just didn’t expect any of this to happen. Everyone’s trying to fill each other in with any information they have.”