Jim Thorpe teens raise $50K for cancer research

David Richards has always looked at his older siblings as heroes, both in sports and in life.

So when he learned five years ago that his brother Damian was fighting pediatric follicular Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, he was devastated.

“Seeing when your hero gets knocked down, it was so scary. To put it in one word, I was just terrified,” David said.

At the time, the treatment for the disease involved intense chemotherapy with the potential for lasting effects. But just before Damian began treatment, doctors changed the protocol, doing away with the chemotherapy.

The change was due to research funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which is dedicated to all forms of blood cancer.

Five years later, when Richards received the opportunity to lead a fund drive for LLS, he saw an opportunity to thank the organization that helped his brother.

“LLS kind of saved his life. We’re very blessed. We were very lucky, a lot of people aren’t,” he said.

Richards and classmate Olivia Wolfe successfully raised $50,000 for LLS. For their efforts, they were named the organization’s students of the year for the greater Lehigh area at a gala in March.

Raising awareness

Two years ago, the organization opened its annual fundraising campaign to students from Jim Thorpe for the first time. Richards’ sister and Olivia’s cousin raised $27,000 as the first iteration of “Team Jim Thorpe.”

The following year, they challenged another Jim Thorpe student, Emma Gavornik, who raised the bar to $34,000.

She in turn challenged David and Olivia, who accepted.

Olivia lost her brother Hunter, her best friend, to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2011 at the age of 8.

“There isn’t a second of the day that I don’t think about him,” she said.

In accepting the challenge, Richards and Wolfe decided they wanted to go beyond what Team Jim Thorpe had done before. They set a goal of $50,000, which would give them the extra incentive of a chance to name a research grant after their brothers.

“We wanted to raise that much money so that we could name a research grant after them,” Wolfe said. “It definitely inspired me, pushed me a little. Well I guess, a lot.”

Reaching their goals

Between January and March, when they weren’t studying or practicing for sports, their lives were dedicated to LLS. They knew some of what went into the fundraiser from helping their relatives in 2017, but now they were leading the charge.

“My main focus was obviously school, but LLS, it was like another subject almost. It was like any free time I had went to LLS,” Wolfe said.

The group held numerous events at local businesses like Molly Maguires, Radical Wine Company and Louie’s Prime Steak House. A Jim Thorpe-Panther Valley girls’ basketball game became a whiteout with the pair selling T-shirts.

“Everyone was amazing. We had a great turnout. Our community was unbelievable. Crazy supportive. Our school, so much,” David said.

Some of the other students competing for “student of the year” had the advantage of having many large companies in their area, and reached their goals relying mainly on those large donations. Wolfe and Richards didn’t have that luxury.

“We had some people give $5. That still meant the world to us,” Richards said.

Hundreds of their classmates at Jim Thorpe showed support “erasing cancer” during one benefit.

David and Olivia sold paper “blood drops” for $1, symbolizing the blood cancers which LLS fights to cure. Each blood drop was taped to a poster with the word CANCER written in letters four feet tall. By the end of the benefit, the letters were erased.

“There were people who didn’t even know us, barely knew our story, and they just wanted to get behind it,” David said.

Spreading hope

Along the way, they had a chance to share their families’ stories with countless local residents. When they explained why they were raising money for LLS, a lot more people got on board.

“I think that’s when people realized the most, ‘they’re really doing this in memory and honor of their brothers,’” Wolfe said.

The team kept track of their fundraising progress through the LLS website.

On March 16, the organization held a gala where they would tally the totals and award student of the year.

A few hours before the gala, LLS intentionally stopped the online tally so the final result would be a surprise.

Team Jim Thorpe held its final benefit.

On their opening day, Annie’s Ice Cream in Jim Thorpe donated a share of their profits. More donations came in during the gala itself.

Richards knew they could get close to their goal, but he was concerned that they couldn’t break through. Even so, he was happy with their effort.

“I was OK with that. If we raised $1,000, that’s still $1,000. Anything really helps,” he said.

Then they announced the totals. In all, the student of the year competition raised $268,000 for LLS.

Team Jim Thorpe was the highest fundraiser. They beat their goal of $50,000.

“We beat $50,000 by $14, so when we say every dollar counts, every dollar really counts,” Richards said.

Celebrating victories

They got to celebrate alongside their family members, including Damian Richards.

Today, Damian works as an ICU nurse at Geisinger Hospital in Danville, helping patients who are going through the same thing he did a decade ago.

“That really meant something to him. He wanted to give back in that way, be that person to somebody else,” David said.

The next day, they woke up with no fundraisers to attend, no calls to make. It was a strange feeling after seven weeks of fundraising.

During the gala, LLS’ campaign manager gave Richards and Wolfe batons like those used for relays in track and field. She challenged them to find the next students for Team Jim Thorpe.

And they still have to come up with an official name for their research grant.

“We haven’t really talked about it. I think we’ll definitely do something with both our brothers’ names,” Wolfe said.