Alabama QB puts Iron Bowl rivalry aside to honor Auburn student with cancer
Sometimes there is more to sports than who wins or loses, and sometimes even the most heated rivalry in college football can be put aside for the greater good.
Saturday was one of those times.
When Alabama quarterback Blake Sims took the field against Florida, he wore a new accessory on his right wrist, a purple bracelet that simply read “Kayla.” It was a tribute to Kayla Perry, a 19-year-old college student who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of pediatric cancer that typically presents itself in very young children and infants, 18 months ago.
Perry is currently a freshman at Auburn University.
“Hey guys, you know I’m an Auburn Tiger, but even college rivalries can come together when it matters,” Perry posted Saturday on Facebook with a picture of Sims. “Many thanks to University of Alabama QB Blake Sims for seeing my story, and asking to wear my bracelet this week, and today, especially!”
With the bracelet on, Sims played the best game of his college career. The senior threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns in the Crimson Tide’s 42-21 win over Florida.
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The two haven’t met yet, but Perry has a mutual acquaintance who is trying to set up a meeting. In the meantime, she’s just happy that by wearing the bracelet, Sims was able to raise awareness to childhood cancer research and the lack of funding that is going into it.
“We really want people to see this and see this as a problem and take a stand and step up and do something,” Perry said. “When people like Blake step up and they show their support for a cause, it makes other people want to get involved, too. So we’re really glad that he did that and thankful.”
Sims isn’t the only player to show support. Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates wore the same bracelet last Thursday when the Tigers played Kansas State, and his head coach Gus Malzahn has asked to meet with Perry on Tuesday.
Perry, who launched a website to raise funds for pediatric cancer research on Sept. 1, has already raised over $50,000, her mother said.
Dick Vitale honored with Heart of Gold Award by Pediatric Cancer Foundation
Lakewood Ranch’s Dick Vitale received the inaugural Heart of Gold Award presented by the Pediatric Cancer Foundation on Thursday in Tampa.
Then he got a surprise.
Following the presentation, Vitale was informed that moving forward the award will be known as the Dick Vitale Heart of Gold Award.
College basketball and ESPN’s greatest ambassador was humbled by the gesture.
“Until I take my last breath, raising money and awareness for pediatric cancer research is my life,” Vitale said.
Vitale was selected because of his passion, commitment to research and efforts to raise money for pediatric cancer.
“The Heart of Gold Award is awarded to an individual or group of individuals that are compassionate about finding a cute and devoted to funding pediatric cancer research,” said Nancy Crane, executive director of PCF.
This past year, Vitale and his annual Dick Vitale Gala raised more than $2.1 million for the V Foundation.
Standing together on the National Mall, families unite for a cure for childhood cancer
Aaron Rodgers helps girl spread word about her pediatric cancer campaign
Had enough of the negative NFL stories for now? Well, here’s a great story about Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Annie Bartosz that will leave a smile on your face and help restore your faith in, well, just about everything.
Annie Bartosz is a sixth-grader from Wisconsin who lost her twin brother Jack to cancer two years ago. She currently leads a campaign entitled “Gold In September,” which encourages people to wear gold to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. She’s attracted a lot of attention to the cause herself and even has a great website — goldinseptember.com — to get the word out.
CureFest DC 2014
Fight for compassionate use reform goes to Washington
A proposed new law could make it easier for terminally ill patients to get access to potentially life-saving drugs. The process, known as expanded access, or compassionate use, was a topic at this year’s annual Childhood Cancer Summit in Washington, D.C., Friday.
The summit is the yearly meeting of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, co-founded in 2009 by Central Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, in order to better direct Congressional resources and efforts to the cause of preventing pediatric cancer.
McCaul was also a friend of Austin attorney Andrea Sloan, 45, who waged a brave, public battle for compassionate use in 2013 while in the final stages of ovarian cancer. After months of requests, an anonymous drug company ultimately granted Sloan compassionate use of a drug, but her disease had progressed quickly and she passed away on Jan. 1, 2014.
McCaul said he is ready to introduce new legislation in Congress in Sloan’s honor that would keep other patients from having to wait so long for their requests to be granted—time they do not have.
Father Of Cancer Patient Repays Act Of Kindness In Beautiful Way
To this day, Darren Greenwood doesn’t know who was responsible for the care package, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.
It was 2011 and Darren’s son, Joe, was about to be diagnosed with leukemia.
Joe, 17 at the time, had begun feeling ill during a family vacation and had gone to see his doctor upon their return. After looking at the results of his blood tests, the doctor told Joe and his parents they needed to go directly from their home in Ripon, outside of Modesto, to the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center.
They arrived late. They were tired. They were hungry.
That’s when they got the care package.
“Somebody at some time had made some kind of donation to the hospital,” Darren says, “so that new leukemia patients and their families would get one.” Darren says, in retrospect, it wasn’t important what was in the package, just that it was there.
“It was just the coolest thing,” Darren says, holding back tears, “that somebody somewhere was thinking about you.”
Erin’s Story: Being a Childhood Cancer Survivor
Now, in my late thirties, I look at my life, I am thankful I am a cancer survivor. It has shaped so much of my life. Yes, it has given me a scar, one kidney, anxiety and depression. But it has also given me more compassion, more empathy, more strength, a recognition that we are given just one life to live, and how we live that life for our faith, our family, ourselves is so important.
This Is What Pediatric Cancer Looks Like
“I never thought I’d hear those words, ‘Your daughter has cancer’ … and then one day I did,” says Melissa Bradley, whose 4-year-old daughter, Belle, is currently in treatment.
The devastating reality is that a parent hears that news every three minutes.
And while childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in kids under 15, research remains underfunded — currently, less than 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget is allocated to research it.
That’s why families, medical professionals and advocates are Going Gold this September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — to give the disease, and the kids affected by it, the attention they deserve.
“People tend to shy away from such a subject because it is terrifying to even fathom happening to someone you love,” says Paula Crosby Flake, whose son and husband both died of cancer. “There is not enough ‘talk’ about pediatric cancer.”
While it is devastating to see children who have to fight this disease, or hear the stories of those who we’ve lost to it, their parents want their daughters’ and sons’ stories to be told — and no two are the same.