MOUNDS VIEW, Minn. — At Mounds View High School, they are known as the two Dave's.
“There’s obviously a ton of grief and it comes in waves to you, but in order to get through that grief, you need to be strong,” said Dave Bratland.
“It’s what you do for friends, you know? It’s what you do for friends,” said Elyse Leiser.
Basketball is the glue that binds the Leisers and Bratlands as family friends for the last two decades.
“The Leisers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet,” said Dave Bratland.
“We’ve known them for years. Our oldest daughters were best buds when they were little kids and then they were managers of the boys basketball team together,” said Elyse Leiser.
Dave Leiser was born to be a Mustang.
“Well I graduated from Mounds View. Played on this very court. Right out of college, became an assistant for Ziggy Kauls, and I served as his assistant for 21 years and this is my 12th year as the head coach” said Dave Leiser.
Dave Bratland served as an assistant coach for eight of those 12 years before becoming the Mustangs girls head coach in 2020.
“You find out more when you’re going through the tough times, and I always knew he had my back,”
“I loved working with him every day. For all of the hours we put in, to walk away with that friendship, and to call him one of my best friends today is pretty special,” said Bratland.
Two families forever linked by basketball and cancer.
Erica Bratland often sat right behind her husband’s bench.
“So she was diagnosed in September of 2020 with metastatic colon cancer, and it was stage four. She fought hard for almost three years, and passed away in June,” said Bratland.
Just months before Emma Bratland’s senior season.
“She was super impactful in my life," said Emma Bratland. "I always tell myself that I should play for her (mom), but it’s hard and I always think about her during the game. And I always want to turn around on the bench, because she was always there, right behind the bench, and sometimes during the game I look, and she’s not there. So it’s hard to play without her being here, but I try to work harder for her."
The painful reality of cancer is something the Leisers, like the Bratlands, know all too well.
“September 19th," Elyse Leiser recalled. "I was just at home, watching TV and actually went to scratch under my arm pit and thought, what is that? I knew something just didn’t feel right. I just had a gut feeling, so he encouraged me, and said if it doesn’t feel right, go in and make an appointment. So I did, and we learned right away."
Elyse, Dave Leiser’s wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall.
“Dave’s been an incredible support to me. He’s been with me every step of the way through every part of the journey,” said Elyse Leiser.
The other half of the Daves travels that journey as well.
“The motto of our program is 'All in,'” said Dave Bratland.
“It means being there for your teammates and your coaches,” said Emma Bratland.
For the Bratlands, grieving and giving walk hand-in-hand.
“So we started thinking, how can we help families in our community that are feeling the same way and have the same thing happen to them?” asked Dave Bratland. “What we’ve taught our kids on our team is they have no idea what an effect just supporting someone can have on them."
The girls have raised more than $10,000 for families impacted by cancer, including the Leisers, who they honored before a game this season.
“It was more than I ever imagined it could be,” said Dave Bratland.
“Everything was pink. There was pink everywhere you looked,” said Elyse Leiser.
“We lost our game that night, and I can tell you that, 20 years from now, none of our players will remember anything about that game, but every single one of them will remember everything that happened in that presentation and that night,” said Dave Bratland.
“And in the middle of a hard time, just to be embraced and felt so loved and felt so supported was huge for us,” said Elyse Leiser.
Two families forever connected by cancer and love.
“How can we ever thank Dave for this? How can we ever truly thank them? He said you don’t need to thank us, we know,” said Elyse Leiser.
“It’s just a reminder that there’s so much good happening,” said Dave Leiser.
A reminder that giving while grieving inspires hope.
“If we can make the Leisers’ life this much better, or the next recipients on and on in the future, if we can make their lives a little less stressful, a little bit better," said Dave Bratland. "I’d be ashamed of myself and Erica would be really upset with me if we didn’t take the opportunity to do so."
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