By Michael Hoffman (KY3)
OZARK, Mo. (KY3) – The Ozark community mourned a young, promising athlete.
Josie Orellana lost her battle with cancer Thursday night. Orellana, number 35 for Ozark’s volleyball team, was diagnosed with Leukemia a few years ago. She passed away after complications during a bone marrow transplant, and though her fight was long and hard, those who know her say it never stopped her.
“You could look in her eyes and see the fire that burned.,” said her personal trainer Zane Davidson. “There was never a quiver in her throat about what she was going to do. She was like, I’m going to go get this done. And I’m like, I think she was a little scared, obviously. But she didn’t voice it.”
A strength that her coach, Adeana Brewer, says was contagious.
“It is contagious,” said Brewer. “Like it’s a contagious energy. It’s a contagious spirit. And I would just say immediately, I noticed that Josie had that.”
A fiery spirit that, according to Davidson, you only see in very few athletes.
“She wouldn’t let me back her off,” remembered Davidson. “She wouldn’t let me take the weight off of her. Hers was to achieve was the end result she was going to achieve it no matter what. And very few people have the ability to push themselves beyond their capacity or known capacity.”
She was a fighter who looked at obstacles as an opportunity to get stronger, whether that was in the hospital or on the court in her red and white #35 jersey.
“I didn’t realize that when I collected this would be the last time that she would wear it,” said Brewer. “So to bring it today to hopefully pass on to her family.”
