Carolina Elite Head Coach Dana Fusetti has been in softball for two decades as a player and coach and has helped develop dozens of players who’ve gone on to college success while leading her club teams to top finishes at several elite travel ball events (see her complete bio below).

Recently, however, Dana has been in excruciating pain and the reason is frightening.

She has been diagnosed with Congenital Periodontal Disease, a potential life-threatening illness that has already had serious implications in her family.

“My brother had it and it went untreated, leading to him having open-heart surgery,” Dana says. “I also found out that my biological mom, who I did not know, had this.”

By definition, the disease affects the teeth and gums causing infections so bad that it can lead to life-threating infections elsewhere in the body. It’s typically inherited as was the case in Dana, whose mother had to have all her teeth removed to save her life.

How serious is the disease?

“My doctor told me,” the coach relates, “’If you keep do this your way you won’t be around to see your kids get married let alone graduate.’”

But there is hope and a way now for the long-time coach to get the assistance she needs.

Carolina Elite Assistant Coach Ebony Waters has set up a GoFundMe to help Coach Dana have the necessary surgery and follow-up to relieve Dana’s excruciating pain.

Click HERE go to the GoFundMe

The GoFundMe will cover four main areas:

• Life-saving surgery not fully covered by insurance
• Travel, lodging, and related medical expenses
• Post-surgery medications and therapies
• Essential living costs while she is unable to work

Ebony explains why she felt she had to take action:

“I begin to see her pain, the sleeplessness nights… all while she was constantly working for the girls. When I learned what was going on I did my research and learned the seriousness of what was going on, what needed to be done to fix it and how insurance wouldn’t cover it.”

“I felt in my heart I had to do something. It was months before she agreed, but eventually the pain got bad enough that she was ready. I launched the GoFundMe and my prayer is that the softball community, players, families, anyone will contribute.”

“Every little bit counts and is greatly appreciated.”

The relationship between the two coaches goes back to when Ebony’s daughter joined the Elite program in July of 2021. She recounts the initial experience she had Dana.

“We knew before joining the team that Dana was a tough coach. My daughter was not feeling well at the tryout and had to leave. The other coaches didn’t want her, but Dana saw beyond how my daughter performed and gave her a shot.”

“I was thankful that she could see what the other coaches couldn’t.”

The next year (early 2022), Ebony joined the organization as a coach and recruiting liason where she is today, remaining loyal to Dana over the last three years and counting.

“Coach needed someone to talk to college coaches,” Ebony recalls, “and I just happened to be the person standing there. My daughter is playing softball in college now and I’m still coaching and recruiting with Dana.”

“The hours in the car, staying together in hotels… I have gotten to know the coach within the tough shell, her passion for the game and her heart for her players.”

Tough as she may be, Dana admits she had to put her pride to the side to work towards having the surgery done.

“It’s been such a rough summer for me that I gave Ebony the greenlight to set up the GoFundMe because I need the surgery as soon as possible.”

At a recent softball event, Dana commented:

“I am in incredible pain, but once it’s game time I will block it until it’s over!”

Hopefully, with the help of the softball community and the necessary medical treatment, those pain-enduring games will be a thing of the past.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball

Dana Fusetti Bio

Dana Fusetti played overseas for 14 years and while playing she coached for over seven years in Holland, New Zealand and Italy.

As a club coach, she led teams that finished 9th at PGF Premier Nationals and earned 3rd place at the Triple Crown Nationals. In the early days of her coaching career, Dana won the ASA State Championships several times and has also placed in the Top 5 at Boulder IDT and captured the championship title at the Ray Chandler Memorial Tournament.

After returning from Italy, she transitioned directly into a coaching position at USC Upstate, where she spent one year—stepping away due to her pregnancy with her son, Ejan, who is now-an assistant coach with her mom.

Throughout her coaching journey, Coach Dana has been honored to work with standout players such as:

• Abbey Cheek, Christian Stokes, and Sylver Samuels (Kentucky)
  • while coaching alongside Tony Genovese
• Reganne Bennett (USC, Michigan)
• Ariel Krueger (Duke)
• Karlyn Pickens, Camryn Sarvis (Tennessee)
• Brylee Mesusan (Tennessee, ETSU)
• Shelby Barbee (Virginia, North Carolina)
• Savannah Jessie (Liberty)
• Savannah Henley (Virginia)
• Ava Gundling (Maryland)
• Bria Bosiljevac (Indiana)
• Carley Keller (North Carolina – Charlotte)
• Lexie Hames (Clemson)
• Lexi Godwin (North Carolina)

Dana has also helped athletes earn scholarships—even those who never played for her directly. One example: this summer she helped Caitlyn Nesbitt land a spot on Coach Dot Richardson’s team at Liberty University.

One of Dana’s favorite memories is spotting Karlyn Pickens when she was just 10 years old. After watching her pitch for one hour, Dana told her father that if she stuck with the sport, she would someday throw harder than anyone in the history of softball. Not only did Karlyn break that record this year, she also broke her own.

Another example is Lexi Godwin, who came to Dana after years of being told she’d never play above the D2 level. The athlete spent nearly every weekend traveling over four hours each way to work with the coach.

After two months, Dana told Lexi to stop pitching and focus on hitting. Lexi listened and went on to break North Carolina’s single-game RBI record and earned ACC Player of the Week honors. Today, the former Tarheel is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma.

As to what brings her the most joy as a coach, Coach Dana explains it’s about the people:

“These are the kinds of wins that matter most to me. Watching athletes realize their dreams and exceed expectations is more rewarding than any trophy.”