By Annabeth Reeb
BTHO childhood cancer: there’s a fight that anyone can get behind. When people hear the word cancer, their minds usually jump to adults. What’s even worse than facing this horrible world midlife, is facing it before you’ve even really experienced life. According to St. Baldrick’s foundation, 175,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many of those children don’t make it.
Luckily, that wasn’t the case for Sam Lee, four-year-old son of Erin Benson and Michael Lee, the founders of Texas A&M’s With Purpose.
After learning that their child only had a short time to live, the Lee’s were automatically faced with the reality of the limited funding for children’s cancer research. Though their son was able to beat those odds, they were devoted to creating a voice for children who weren’t as lucky. With Purposes’ website states that only 4% of US Government spending goes toward youth cancer research. That number is shockingly low for such a large problem.
With Purpose seeks to help this low funding by raising funds and awareness in the Brazos Valley Area. On December 5, With Purpose will be fighting for funds at their event “Chill Fest.” A clever spin off of College Stations favorite hoedown, Chill Fest will be packed with games, crafts, food, and much more family fun at the Penberthy Intramural fields. The event will also feature a flag football tournament.
Chill Fest will take place from 1pm – 4pm, and tickets will be sold prior to the event for $5 per adult and $3 per child, and at the door for $7 and $5, respectively.
