Sara DiMaio Joly, second from right, is pictured with her family. From the left are her father, Joe DiMaio; her daughter, Peyton; her son, Cole; and her husband, Richie. Photo courtesy of Sara DiMaio Joly

When Sara DiMaio Joly maps out vacation plans for her family, there are two absolute, non-negotiable requirements. One, the destination has to include sand (for spirited games of beach volleyball) and, two, the adjacent body of water must accommodate one of her other unique recreational passions (surfing).

Jacksonville, Florida checked both of those boxes.

But before Sara, husband Richie and their children, Cole and Peyton, left Jamestown for the Sunshine State in late June, the 46-year-old special education teacher at Washington Middle School emailed her oncologist’s office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Her question can be summed up in three words.

“Am I cleared?”

Sarah DiMaio Joly spent an August weekend in Georgia on a “BreastRest” retreat with women from throughout the United States. Sponsored by “The Boobie Queen Company,” the retreat addresses the mental health needs of young women affected by breast cancer and empowers them to celebrate themselves as the “queens they are.” Photos courtesy of Sara DiMaio Joly

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Last Friday, Jamestown’s varsity football team posted a stunning, last-minute victory over rival Lancaster. Sara learned of the miraculous comeback on the ride home from a volleyball match at Allegany-Limestone.

The Red & Green’s junior varsity coach, she is also a longtime supporter of the football program. Husband Richie is a varsity assistant coach; father Joe DiMaio was a varsity assistant for decades; brother Joey and son Cole, who is now in college, are former players; and Cheryl, her late mother, handled many of the booster club responsibilities for years.

So, Sara, also a former volleyball player at Jamestown Community College, knows a little bit about never giving up or “playing to the whistle,” traits that have certainly served her well in the last year.

So before departing for Jacksonville on the family holiday, she clicked “send” on that email containing her hopeful request to get back to the sand and surf activities she so loves. Because after two surgeries — one last December and one this past March — she needed a mental-health boost, because breast cancer, culminating with a double mastectomy, had been overwhelming for her, both physically and emotionally.

Sarah DiMaio Joly

Particularly when there were no warning signs.

“I just went to my routine mammogram and that’s where they found (the cancer),” Sara said, “so it’s unbelievably important as women — especially young women — that we learn our bodies, number one, and that we do all the stuff we’re supposed to be doing.”

The results of the biopsy that confirmed the cancer just happened to be the same day as Jamestown High School’s homecoming, but the only member of the volleyball team who knew of the diagnosis was Sara’s daughter Peyton, who is now a JHS senior.

“I didn’t tell the team until right before the (first surgery),” Sara said. “They didn’t know they were helping me, but they were. Every time I got to come to practice for those two hours I didn’t think about cancer, I thought about volleyball. They helped save me, for sure.”

Another big assist came during Thanksgiving weekend, when Sara told some of her old Jamestown High School friends about her health situation. When she revealed that she wouldn’t be able to see a doctor in the region for three months, one of the women was stunned. That prompted the friend’s husband, who, Sara said, “ran” a hospital in Portsmouth, to immediately reach out to his breast cancer surgeon.

“I got a call two days later, an appointment was set up and, two weeks later, I had my surgery,” Sara said.

During her pre- and post-op, she stayed with friends in Boston, which is about an hour drive from Portsmouth.

“That was a crazy four weeks,” Sara recalled. ” … It was a hard time, for sure, but I have such an amazing family and I have such a good support system. It was over Christmas. Everyone came up for a few days and we all got an Airbnb. It was a good distraction.”

Still, there were challenges ahead.

“For about three months, Richie and I traveled once a week to Portsmouth,” Sara said. “It was a nine-hour drive for a treatment to get ready for the implants.”

That surgery, which took place in March, found two cancers, which meant a three-week round of “very intense” chemotherapy.

“Unfortunately, when they ran the test again to figure out the exact chemotherapy dose I was going to get, it was inconclusive,” Sara said, “so right now they won’t deem me cancer free.”

Still, she remains undaunted. Cleared to resume normal activities in late May, she has been buoyed by the support of so many, including one particular group of new friends she made during a life-altering trip to Georgia at the end of August.

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“The Boobie Queen Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting young women (45 and under) affected by breast cancer,” its website reads. “We focus on addressing the mental health and body-image challenges that often arise during treatment and survivorship.

” … We believe every woman deserves to feel seen, supported and celebrated — and to know she is never alone in her journey.”

Upon learning about the Boobie Queen Company for the first time via social media platform TikTok, Sara was intrigued, so she filled out an application to attend a “BreastRest Retreat,” was interviewed and was ultimately accepted into a group of eight women from across the country. There was no cost for her weekend stay.

“They ‘love’ on you,” Sara said. “They do mental health and physical health, they do work on how you feel about yourself, your body, this new body that you’re in, and how you deal with the challenges of being a survivor now.

“It was such an amazing experience for me, because I hadn’t really dived into the breast cancer community. Everything happened so fast. I didn’t realize I needed or wanted that until I got it, so it was really, really powerful to be around all these women who went through similar experiences. The stuff we could talk about and share was life changing, for sure.”

And now Sara wants to share her experiences locally, beginning Wednesday, which is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“We’re trying to make a big deal of it,” she said.

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Thanks to the support of the community, including ROBO, Jamestown Macadam Inc. and ACME the Appliance Store, the Jamestown volleyball program will host Fredonia at 5 p.m. Wednesday at McElrath Gymnasium. The players will be outfitted in pink jerseys, which they will wear for matches throughout the month. Concession sales and any donations will go directly to the Boobie Queen Company.

“When I talked at the retreat,” Sara said, “I told them about this amazing group of 26 young women (in the JHS volleyball program) that (breast cancer could) affect. As much as I don’t want it to, it will. I have an opportunity to educate them, help them with what it could look like and what we can do.

“I hope I can impact just one (person). If one woman hears this and feels like they are alone, 100 percent contact me, because you’re never alone. It seems scary, it’s hard, but if there’s anything I can do for one person, I’d be happy to talk to them.”