LUMBERTON, N.C. — The Lumberton High School boys and girls basketball teams recently used their court to support a cause — putting together a white-out game in honor of pediatric cancer patients.
What You Need To Know
Lumberton High School basketball teams championed the cause of pediatric cancer on the court
The team held a white-out game honoring a patient who lost their battle with cancer
All proceeds went to a pediatric cancer foundation known as Brandon’s Battle
Brandon’s Battle is a foundation that raises awareness for pediatric cancer. Months earlier, the organization caught the eye of a high schooler in Lumberton, who reached out to Brandon’s mom, wondering how she could get involved.
“As soon as I heard the story, I felt the call to help out. I felt the call to contribute my care to the foundation,” Emily Hall, the student organizer of the white-out-game, said. “I couldn't imagine it for myself, losing a senior year of the sport that I love.”
Hall shared that Brandon absolutely loved to play basketball but was diagnosed with leukemia in high school and missed out on the best of his senior year because of treatments.
“And if you hear the story, Brandon was cleared from the hospital to play on his senior night in basketball, but unfortunately, he got sick during the game, had to be rushed back to the hospital,” Hall said.
The players brought their all, saying they weren’t playing for themselves or their team in this game, but Brandon instead.
“I know how cancer is, and the toll it takes on your body, and my family's had it,” La’Kayia Hunt, a senior on the Lumberton girls basketball team, said. “Doing something that he can't do his senior year out here playing for my senior year ... I hope to just play hard tonight for him.”
Brandon had no connection to Lumberton at all, but to hear the players say it, it’s a cause that’s bigger than basketball and something that everyone can get behind.
“Cancer is an awful thing, so the spreading the awareness of it will make a difference,” Hall said. “Something like this forces everyone to come together.”
She coordinated the entire event in Brandon’s honor with the help of her school’s athletic director and both basketball teams. Brandon’s mom was in the stands at the game and was able to share her heart for the foundation with fans and players at halftime.
“It just means a lot to us to be out here and play and wear his name across our shirts, and I just hope that tonight we can put his name to a good cause,” Hunt said. “And at and end of the day, we may cry, but I feel like we should get a win for him.”
Both the boys and girls basketball teams did bring home resounding wins for Brandon. All the proceeds from the game went to Brandon’s Battle foundation to be donated to Duke and UNC’s children’s hospitals.