LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – When an illness cut a Las Vegas Valley High School teacher and coach’s career short, his students in the valley and across state lines rallied around him to offer support.
Joe Hallead has been teaching since 1999, starting in Camas, Washington, before moving to Las Vegas. Soon after the move, Hallead coached the Palo Verde High School Baseball Team to a State Championship in 2018.
“I don’t even think you can have words to describe it, just pure joy,” said former Palo Verde High School Baseball player, Bryce Robison.
It’s a moment frozen in time for both the players and Hallead.
“I wasn’t even in this picture, I was over here in the dugout crying,” Hallead says.
Unfortunately, that moment was cut short when Hallead was diagnosed with a respiratory illness that took him off the field.
“The two things God put me on this earth to do was to teach and to coach, I really do believe that,” he says. “When it gets taken away from you, man, it just rips your heart out.”
Trading baseball practice for trips to the ICU, Hallead says he lived years in isolation.
“For two years I sat in this exact place, where you’re sitting, with the blinds down and the lights off,” he says.
He eventually decided to open up about his struggle online, and the response from his students showed just how big of an impact a teacher can make.
“The messages,” he says. “The phone calls, and the messages and the facetimes.”
Hallead was flooded with support, not only from students in the Las Vegas Valley, but across state lines.
“It’s our turn as a community to try to help our coach,” said Lisbet Nesta-Gutierrez, Hallead’s former student in Camas, Washington.
Hallead says the outpour of love picked up his spirits. Now, he’s able to focus on getting healthy, and hopefully, back into the classroom.
“I’m only 52, I have a lot more years left to do the thing, and I have a lot more kids to influence,” he says.
When he does get back into teaching, Hallead hopes his own story serves as a lesson to students that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
“I just think the kids need to understand they’re not alone, adults 52 years old can go through these things,” he says.
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