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The Port Neches-Groves community is sending support across more than 200 miles after news that a former Port Neches-Groves High School counselor is battling cancer.

Emily Faircloth, wife of former PNG athletic director and head football coach Brandon Faircloth, was diagnosed in March, according to a relative.

The Faircloth family had been part of the PNGISD family for 13 years before Brandon accepted a position as head coach and athletic director of Sulphur Springs in early 2022.

“They are a wonderful family,” said PNGHS Principal Scott Ryan. “They did a lot for people here.”

According to information posted online by Brandon’s brother, Forrest Faircloth, Emily was first diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.

“Two surgeries later, God has already intervened and allowed her to go from a Stage 3 to a Stage 1,” Forrest wrote. “It has been a crazy ride of appointments, surgeries, tests, and scans, and the road will be long. Emily returns to the doctors on April 26th for final test results, which will reveal the best treatment options to begin as soon as possible.”

A GoFundMe for the family began circulating Friday on Facebook among the Southeast Texas community.

“She is just absolutely the sweetest person,” Ryan said. “She loves kids and is a very hard worker. She loved the staff here and they loved her. We’re all praying for them.”

And prayer, Forrest wrote in the online fundraiser, is as welcome as money.

“If donating money is what you do, donate,” he said. “If praying is what you do, please hit the floor for my brother, Emily and their beautiful family as they start down this road. God is the creator and the healer; there is absolutely nothing He can’t do, and we pray for the day that we can say Emily has been healed and her body restored.”

As of 3 p.m. Friday, the fundraiser had raised more than $8,000 in 15 hours.

Click here to find the GoFundMe.