Curing Kids Cancer Partners with College Football Teams to Raise Awareness

When the Georgia Bulldogs and South Carolina Gamecocks go head-to-head on the gridiron in Athens on September 7th, UGA players will be raising awareness that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Working with the nonprofit Curing Kids Cancer, UGA players will wear Coaches Curing Kids Cancer logo stickers on their helmets.

The game kicks off the charity’s “Blowing the Whistle on Kids Cancer!” campaign this college football season.

The following week, September 14th, South Carolina and Vanderbilt will both be wearing the helmet stickers and Players Curing Kids Cancer wristbands in support of the campaign at their game in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina and Vanderbilt coaches will be wearing the Coaches Curing Kids Cancer whistles and lanyards.

Finally on September 28th, Vanderbilt will end Childhood Cancer Awareness month by wearing the whistles, wristbands and helmet stickers at their home game against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

ESPN GameDay commentator Lee Corso said, “As Chairman of Coaches Curing Kids Cancer, it’s gratifying to see all of these college football coaches and players jumping on board to raise awareness about childhood cancer. One Georgia coach, Kirk Olivadotti, has a young daughter being treated for leukemia so it is a very personal cause for this Bulldog team. To see Georgia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt stepping up in support of this great cause is fantastic. We all want to tackle kids’ cancer and make it a thing of the past.”

“Mr. College Football” and CBS Sports commentator Tony Barnhart, also a member of Curing Kids Cancer’s Executive Advisory Board, said: "The Georgia-South Carolina game is going to be one of the best of this season’s SEC games. So I'm pleased that UGA has agreed to help Curing Kids Cancer raise awareness about childhood cancer. It's another example of how the college football community can be a force for good."

Grainne Owen, founder and Executive Director of Curing Kids Cancer, said, “This is an amazing opportunity for Coaches Curing Kids Cancer to partner with the Georgia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt players and fans to help children with cancer. We hope that both team’s efforts to raise awareness of the desperate need for funding for childhood cancer research will motivate their fans to support them by going to our website and making a donation.” Any money raised will go toward the Curing Kids Cancer’s endowment of the Clinical Research Office at the Aflac Cancer Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital Cancer Clinic in Columbia, S.C., and Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital Cancer Center at Vanderbilt.

Grainne and Clay Owen founded Curing Kids Cancer after their son Killian lost his battle
with leukemia at the age of nine. They were told that there was a drug in the lab that might have saved his life but there was not enough money to put the drug into treatment. Now Curing Kids Cancer raises money to help fund these cutting-edge drugs, which will replace traditional chemotherapy. Their goal is to be able to save ALL children who are diagnosed with cancer.

Their flagship fundraising program is Coaches Curing Kids Cancer, which is chaired by Lee Corso. The other main grassroots fundraising program is Players Curing Kids Cancer, chaired by Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves. The charity has already raised more than $3 million to fund research on new treatments for childhood cancer.

Curing Kids Cancer and Coaches Curing Kids Cancer are registered trademarks of Curing Kids Cancer. All rights reserved.