The Fight Against Cancer

For the past four years, our small community has been raising money for local cancer support and education programs.  Below is a blurb about the story.

Three years ago, Lowell High School football coach Noel Dean came up with the idea of using his team to rally the community for a good cause.

So far, the Pink Arrow game has raised more than $700,000 for local cancer support and education programs and has become a model for similar fundraisers across the country.

It is an awesome day/night of festivities, joy, remembrance, support, and community. I smiled, cried, and cheered. It is an event that I cannot quite put into words. In a nutshell, it is a football game where the players wear jerseys with names of loved ones who have fought cancer. Either the name of the person they are wearing walks out with them before the game, or a representative stands in their place. That is the nutshell, but their is so much more to it then that. All the local eateries are on site selling food, the town is painted pink, the field is painted pink, there are shuttles bringing people in from other schools because there is no parking, the soccer and volleyball team played before in pink jerseys, there are thousands of people wearing pink, and the TODAY show was there! That is when you know you have made it :)

Here are some pictures from the night.

Our friend Dave. Dave got there real early to get parking and coordinated the laying down of blankets to save spots for the masses. Thanks Dave. We mooched off of Dave. We got there at 4pm thinking we would be able to find two seats. Um, wrong...

All the elementary students made paper jerseys. They were hung all around the field.

People saved so many seats. There was no open spot at 4pm. The game did not start until 7pm :)

Heidi looking beautiful!

The Bell's. This baby has been to more football games in the last five years than my husband :)

Our cousins foreign exchange student from two years ago

The soccer game!!

:)

Awe

Soccer team won 5-3. This was a PK that sealed the deal with 1 minute left!! Great game. They were down by 1 with less then 7 minutes to play :) Way better game than the football game.

Service men

Great food! This was Kenny's dinner. I got 2 donuts, frozen cider, and a bottle of water.

Big Balloon

A cop car drove down the school lawn leading the parade of survivors and football players.

Michael - the young one

Cody

The Band

The Candy Man :)

Babies 2nd Football game

Touchdown! Not a big surprise.

Flash Mob running on

Flash Mob leaving. Man behind me said "That was interesting."

From the hill top as we left. Notice the pink on Home and Away side. There were all of 50 fans for the other team :(

Very exciting to see an entire community turn out to support such a great cause. At moments I found myself getting caught up in the excitement of a BIG event, then I remembered how personal it was for so many. When the survivors walked down, there were smiles, tears, clapping, and cheers. My favorite moments all happened when the players were announced with the person or representative of the jersey they were wearing. The first was a very frail elderly women. The football player was clearly helping her walk. The announcer announced that she had fought cancer and beat it! Everyone cheered. The other one was when a player walked out with his great Grandmother. His Grandma had lost her battle to cancer, which was the story of so many others. The announcer said the Grandma was represented by his Great Grandma who was a 32 year survivor of breast cancer. And my last favorite and emotional one was our cousin Michael. He walked out with Cody, and while he was walking the announcer mentioned that he was from Boston and that he was a State Champion football player (which I did not know, and that is a big deal in our town where football is a big deal.) But then as they approached the end of their walk, over  the speakers everyone heard "Michael is currently battling Cancer." 


In honor of those that have been ravaged by such a painful disease.