While many people would think going through what I had to go through these past 5 months would be miserable, somehow it has been an eye opening experience in so many ways. Getting diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on June 9th did throw me off, I won’t lie, but what helped keep me stable through it all was my support that I had surrounding me the whole time; especially my team, coaches, and school.
Coach Tiff has brought a special weekend to our soccer program that helps our team reach out to the community—Kicks for a Cause. Last year we raised money and helped raise awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association, but this year the team thought it would be a cool idea to support the cancer center that I received treatment at here in Cleveland. Even more specifically we wanted to put the money towards a specific program that University Hospital has, the Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Initiative. The main objective of the Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Initiative at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital is to not only to raise awareness, but help advance the development of new and needed approaches in the treatment and prevention of cancer (uhhospitals.org).
Like the team has done for me all season long, support me and my task at hand (to beat cancer’s butt), they stepped up and supported this great cause with the same determination they have when we take the field for any given match. So far we have already raised over $4600 through donations, a school bake sale, and 50/50 raffle at our Kicks for a Cause game, and we are still getting donations in!
Not only did my team step up with raising money for the AYA, we also stepped up and showed Westminster College just how serious we were about our cause… This weekend we won a very important game in our hunt for the playoffs 4-0. To make the night all the more special, it was senior night!! Before the game the juniors got to show our love for our fellow seniors by reading letters to each of them and presenting gifts to them.
I want to take this opportunity, in a blog-like-fashion, to thank my teammates and coaches (and all you supporters out there) for supporting such a great cause. Without programs like the Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Initiative, my journey could have ended a lot differently than it did. With our support, time, and commitment to helping the AYA at University Hospital’s Ireland Cancer Center, we can make a lot of other kid’s fight with cancer as successful as mine was.
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