Student-athletes from Mount Carmel Academy, St. Mary’s Dominican, Archbishop Chapelle, and Cabrini high schools, as well as from Loyola University, visited the Tulane Cancer Center recently to present a check for $22,805 — total proceeds from each school’s “Pink Games” fundraisers held last fall.
Pink Games are a series of benefit volleyball games where athletes and spectators wear pink to honor women fighting breast cancer and those who have lost their battles. Some schools incorporate ceremonies to honor family members or friends who have been diagnosed.
This donation will support breast cancer patients through the Cancer Center’s Patient Relief Fund — an important source of assistance for patients facing a cancer diagnosis as well as financial burdens that could become barriers to their care. The total four-year impact of the Pink Games on the Patient Relief Fund exceeds $74,000.
Sherilyn Sewell, a patient assisted by the fund, thanked the students for their efforts and explained the impact they have had in her cancer journey. “The grant I received helped me to pay a medical bill and overcome transportation issues that threatened my ability to travel to the clinic for my treatments,” said Sewell. “I couldn’t be more grateful to each and every one of you for taking that worry away.”
David Mocklin, head athletic trainer at the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine and at Mount Carmel Academy, founded the Pink Games effort. “I’m a New Orleans boy born and raised,” said Mocklin. “I love this city, and the only thing that makes me prouder than the hard work these girls put into giving back is the fact that every penny stays in our community, assisting breast cancer patients right here at home.”
