Days after her final chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, a woman known only to her doctors and nurses as Mrs. Jones took a phone call from her son Brian, also a physician.

He said, "Mom, when are you going to come out of your bedroom? You have an opportunity to turn something negative into a positive and do some good with what you've been through!"

Mrs. Jones was so protective of her privacy that she had initially kept secret from her husband the lump she had found in her left breast. Then, afraid of being pitied, the wife of Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan hid from friends and the public during a six-month period of surgery and chemotherapy. But once the cancer was gone, Mrs. Jones decided her son was right. She became Bobbye Sloan, breast cancer campaigner.

The first step in coming out was an interview with the team magazine, in which Bobbye urged early detection, mammography and monthly self-examination. It led to appearances on ESPN, NBC and Oprah. Celebrity-seeking charities came calling, but only one really appealed: the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. "Anything you want me to do, anywhere you want me to go, I'll do it," she said. For the first time in her life, she exploited her position as Jerry's wife. With the NBA's longest-tenured coach often by her side, Bobbye relentlessly publicized the foundation's annual Race for the Cure.

"I didn't think the race would be an emotional thing, but it is," says Jerry, who walks in the five-kilometer event and has given up smoking. "You see so many smiles. When people find out they have cancer it's devastating. But they're fighting back, raising money and awareness. Eventually they'll win."

With a 582-271 record in 12 Jazz seasons, playoff appearances every year and two Finals berths, Jerry appreciates grit and determination. "Bobbye said she was going to fight breast cancer like we would fight if we got to the playoffs," he says. "What a great attitude."

In 1998, Bobbye helped attract 5,000 participants to the Evansville, Ind., Race for the Cure near her and Jerry's hometown of McLeansboro, Ill. Last year, with Bobbye as honorary chairperson, twice as many racers raised $365,000 for research. She was also 1999 honorary chair for the Salt Lake City race and ran in the national event.

Bobbye, who was Evansville chairperson again last month, claims her motivations are selfish. "I have two wonderful daughters, a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters and a sister. This isn't one of the things I want them to worry about." But there's a good measure of altruism thrown in, too. Bobbye recalls the woman who recently approached her while waiting for a checkup mammogram. "She said, "I know who you are. You're Bobbye Sloan. You're the reason I'm here.' If all this helps only that one person, it's been worth it."