ELON, N.C. – Continuing a tradition of stepping up to help those in need, the Elon University baseball team recently held its annual head-shaving event to benefit the Vs. Cancer Foundation and one of its own, former Elon women’s soccer player Nicole Dennion.
An event that has been an important cause for the Phoenix team carried a greater significance this year. For this season’s event, the baseball team partnered with members of the women’s soccer team to raise money that will go directly to Massachusetts General Hospital and the clinical trial that Dennion is a part of. Dennion is battling Ewing’s sarcoma.
Once again, the Phoenix led the nation in money raised as the maroon and gold collected an amazing $42,431 for this cause. That advanced the total raised over the past four years by the Elon baseball team to $123,259 that has gone to fighting childhood cancer.
“Inspiration — that’s basically the only way I can sum up Elon Baseball, Coach Kennedy and what it means to so many battling cancer,” said Chase Jones, founder and CEO of the Vs. Cancer Foundation. “For Vs. Cancer, we are so thankful for Elon’s dedication to ending this disease, and this year, humbled to help give directly help the treatment of one of Elon’s own in Nicole Dennion.”
Leading the charge for Elon was senior infielder Tyler McVicar. McVicar led all participants nationally by raising $26,000 this season.
Stated McVicar, “This event is important to me because, unfortunately, my family knows people who have been affected by cancer, one of which was a friend who lost his battle when we were 16. This year we got to help a fellow student-athlete from Elon with her battle. Knowing that whatever we raised went straight to her gave everyone a little more motivation to go out and try to raise more money.”
The Vs. Cancer Foundation works to raise necessary dollars to fund lifesaving childhood cancer efforts.
According to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts and Figures 2015, childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of youth and an average of 28 children are diagnosed with cancer each day in the United States alone.
The Vs. Cancer Foundation was started by former University of North Carolina baseball player and childhood cancer survivor Chase Jones, the nephew of former Elon head coach Rick Jones. After being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at age 18, Jones began recruiting people to share his passion for giving support and hope to kids fighting cancer.
2016 Vs. Cancer Top Five Team Rankings
1. Elon Phoenix – $42,431
2. Furman Paladins – $40,921
3. Texas A&M Aggies – $23,886
4. Oklahoma Sooners – $22,254
5. Xavier Musketeers – $13,745