Henryetta and Beggs will renew their football rivalry this fall with a much higher purpose than simply winning a football game at stake. The two schools will square off Sept. 9 at Henryetta and will honor Henryetta sophomore athlete Nathan George and other childhood cancer sufferers by hosting a Childhood Cancer Awareness Gold Out Game.
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and the symbol for childhood cancer is a gold ribbon. The two communities will sell commemorative gold “Battle Mode -Tackling Childhood Cancer” t-shirts in an effort to turn the home and visiting bleachers into a sea of gold for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The back of the shirts will read, “We play for Nathan, Charlie, Aubree, and Sawyer. Nathan was diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma on May 27 of this year and as been undergoing intense chemotherapy treatments since. His prognosis is very positive and he should be finished with his treatments at the end of September.
Aubree Hudson was diagnosed with Leukemia at the beginning of June and has begun her battle with that treatment. Audree is the cousin of Henryetta graduate Karlie Ryal. Sawyer Carroll is a graduate of Henryetta High School and battled and survived Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphomas as a young man in middle school. Carroll went on to win a State Championship in baseball at Henryetta, and was an all-star at Seminole Junior College and the University of Kentucky before being drafted by the San Diego Padres. Charlie Keith is the late son of Jordan (Ryal) Keith of Dewar and Jeremy Keith, and the nephew of Dewar Softball Coach Taylor (Ryal) Longley. Charlie was seven years old when he lost his battle with Stage IV Neuroblastoma Sept. 7, 2015.
“It is our intention to give the Midas touch to Cameron Stadium on the 9th by filling it with gold shirts,” said event coordinator William George, the father of Nathan George. “Childhood Cancer turned our family’s life upside down and does so for thousands of families a year. I just wanted to try to do something to help raise money and awareness for this horrible disease.”
According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, there are an estimated 15,780 children between the ages of birth and 19 years of age who are diagnosed with cancer in the US each year. Approximately 1 in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday. Globally there are more than 250,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year. Every 3 minutes, somewhere in the world a family hears the devastating words that their child has been diagnosed with cancer. While survival rates for many types of childhood cancer have improved, for too many children, cancer will shorten their lives too soon. Cancer remains the most common cause of death by disease for children in America. Only 4% of all federally funded cancer research dollars goes to childhood cancer and almost no funding from pharmaceutical companies since childhood cancer drugs aren’t deemed profitable.
The shirts can be pre-payed and ordered at either of the Henryetta Public School buildings and at Beggs High School. They are $10 for all youth and adult small through large sizes, and $1 per X size above that. The shirts will be available at both Henryetta and Beggs high school on or before Sept 8. Order forms will be sent home with all Henryetta and Beggs public school children Monday, Aug. 22, and must be returned and paid by Tuesday August 30th. Contact Scott Bein or William George at Henryetta High School or Justin Norman at Beggs High School for more information.
 All proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go to benefit Gold4Kids Cancer Foundation of Tulsa. For more information on how to get involved or donate to Gold4Kids visit their website at www.gold4kidstulsa.org.