Vols Start Program To Outlive Cancer

Any time I see a great cause like this it’s worth posting.

From the Associated Press via ESPN.com.

I’ve already ordered a t-shirt.

Team manager starts ‘Outlive’ program

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton quietly went through cancer treatments during his senior season last year, while forward Tyler Smith’s father died from complications of lung cancer.

Brooks Savage saw how cancer affected his teammates and wanted to do something about it.

So the Vols’ graduate manager came up with the business plan for Tennessee’s “Outlive” program, a drive to raise money to support cancer programs and screenings, and showed it to Tennessee director of basketball operations Ken Johnson.

Now with help from coach Bruce Pearl, the school is selling Outlive T-shirts for $15 each at Knoxville-area sporting goods stores and at UTsports.com to raise money for cancer prevention programs at the University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute.

More than $10 from each sale will go toward the programs and screenings.

“I just kind of came up with this idea after being inspired by those stories,” Savage said, “and just felt this was a good way for the people in our program and our community to make a difference.”

Pearl is hoping fans who come to the Florida game on Jan. 31 will wear the shirt, giving the Vols’ arena a whiteout effect during the nationally televised game.

“We want to encourage our Tennessee fans to really step up like they always have, and I think we can make a great statement on Jan. 31 to the nation and do an awful lot of good here at home with the awareness that this thing is going to create,” Pearl said.

Lofton’s testicular cancer was discovered during a routine drug test required by the NCAA and caught early enough that, with treatment, he made a full recovery.

In 2008, the American Cancer Society estimated that more than 1.4 million new cases of cancer would be diagnosed in the U.S. and 560,000 people would die.

“The way to most quickly and easily improve those statistics is by early screening and prevention, and that’s what this is about,” said Dr. Dan Green, a radiation oncologist at UT Medical Center.