‘She really was perfect’: 28-year-old softball standout dies after cancer leaves her paralyzed

MOODY, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) — Emily Bounds, a former softball star who was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, has died. She was 29.

Bounds grew up in Moody, Texas. She played softball at Sam Houston State University for two years before transferring to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where she graduated in 2019.

Wes Waller, who coached Bounds on the Buzz select softball team and helped organize a fundraiser for her, said she was one of the greatest players the organization ever had.

“There will never be another Emily Bounds,” Waller said. “Emily is a Buzz alumnus, probably one of the greatest Buzz players that we’ve ever had with her full story of fight and character and leadership and just how to lead as a human.”

Diagnosis and paralysis

Bounds was diagnosed with melanoma in 2023 while pursuing a master’s degree to become a physician assistant. She experienced back pain and leg weakness. Doctors found tumors wrapped around her spinal cord and brain. The cancer caused her to become paralyzed from the waist down.

“You have to choose sometimes to see the positive side of things,” Bounds said in an interview last year. “I spend a lot of time being thoughtful, thinking about all the good things I have going for me because everyone has to deal with negative things. It’s just about how you overcome it.”

Community support

In August 2024, the community rallied around Bounds with a fundraiser called “Extra Innings for Emily” at the Lee Lockwood Library in Waco, Texas. The event raised more than $100,000 to help her purchase a wheelchair-accessible van.

The fundraiser was organized by retired Waco firefighter Garth Goodwin, who was paralyzed in 2017 after falling from a billboard while working off-duty. Goodwin had loaned Bounds his wheelchair van and became one of her closest friends.

“She is one of my best friends,” Goodwin said.

Waller said he spoke with Bounds’ parents, Rhonda and Jessie Bounds, Monday shortly after Emily’s passing and heard their peace for their daughter.

“We know she’s at peace,” Waller said. “We know that girl fought hard. She did that in everything she did. I had the honor of coaching her in softball and just the way she would take command of the field from behind the plate as a catcher was incredible and it showed us early on who Emily Bounds would be and that’s exactly who she was.”

Leadership on and off the field

Waller said Bounds recently sent him a text checking up on him. Waller is currently battling terminal cancer.

“I was reading that text today going ‘Wow man, who does that?’” Waller said.

Waller said he was proud to be one of Bounds’ coaches.

“I’m sure every one of those leaders will tell you Emily led us, she really did,” Waller said. “She was the leader that we were honored to be on the field with. She really was perfect,” he said.