There is a new leader in women’s college gymnastics, and the LSU Tigers are wearing that crown with conviction. After a decisive 198.200 at the 2025 SEC Gymnastics Championship, the Tigers climbed to the No. 1 national ranking, ending the Oklahoma Sooners’ long-held reign at the top. For the first time since 2014, Oklahoma will not enter the postseason as the top seed. In the most heartwarming manner, LSU’s rise, built on trust and shared ambition, has extended far beyond the gymnastics mat. After all, it recently proved lifesaving in the most unexpected way.

In a recent turn of events, former LSU head coach D-D Breaux’s daughter, Jewel Fourrier, found herself in a dire situation. “There’s no coincidences. Our stories are already written; it’s how you punctuate your sentences and turn your pages,” said Fourrier, a successful Baton Rouge realtor and proud LSU alum.

Back in March 2024, Fourrier went in for a routine mammogram at Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge. Shockingly, she received a diagnosis that altered her life in an instant. “In one day, walked in Jewel. Walked out, Jewel with cancer. It’s a day that I will never forget,” she recalled. The screening showed stage two breast cancer, though she had no family history of the disease. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.

The physician who would take charge of her case was no stranger. Breast specialist Dr. Cecilia Cuntz, who competed for LSU gymnastics under Coach Breaux in 1983, became the very person guiding Fourrier through her treatment. For Cuntz, the connection felt destined. “For it to be Cecilia, that’s God’s hands,” said Fourrier. “She knew me since I was two, and she was on my mom’s gymnastics team.” Cuntz, who built a long-term medical career in Baton Rouge, has devoted decades to women’s health. “It’s very humbling to be allowed into a patient’s worst nightmare, but then watch them power through and see them so strong when it’s done. I’m very grateful to be part of that patient’s story, and it’s a privilege,” she said.

Cuntz often reminds her patients that vigilance can make all the difference. “It’s so important to know your body and to know the changes in your body. It doesn’t matter what age and what is the family history. One in 8 women are going to develop breast cancer in their lifetime,” she explained. In a twist that feels almost poetic, the same LSU spirit that shaped them both decades apart has come full circle.

Former LSU gymnast becomes the doctor who treats her teammate’s daughter through cancer

When Jewel Fourrier learned who would lead her treatment, she was pretty much awestruck. The physician before her, Dr. Cecilia Cuntz, was not merely a specialist in women’s health. As a matter of fact, decades earlier, she had been a gymnast coached by Fourrier’s own mother.

Cuntz had joined LSU gymnastics in 1983 under Coach D-D Breaux and later remained in Baton Rouge, dedicating her career to medicine. “I knew Jewel at two. I remember her cap teeth and her short little blonde hair,” Cuntz recalled. “You get a pit in your stomach and a flutter in your heart, and you just take a deep breath and walk in and say we can do it.” Surely, this was a full circle moment for Cuntz.

Fourrier underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, and reconstruction under Cuntz’s care. “Cecilia, though she was at the beginning of my book, it was already planned and prepped,” Fourrier said. “This is exactly where I was supposed to be in 2024, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.” In a quiet return to familiar faces and shared history, a former gymnast had come full circle. This time, saving a life instead of performing before a crowd.