CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Flour Bluff ISD's football team is set to kick off Friday night's game with a special cause in mind.
The Gold Game is a tradition that the district started more than 10 years ago to bring awareness to childhood cancer for the month of September, which is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.
The project was started in 2010 by Flour Bluff High School student, Madison Beckwith who was being treated for leukemia.
In an interview posted to the Flour Bluff Sports Information YouTube page on Thursday, Misty Beckwith said the football game will honor FBISD students who either had cancer at one time or are currently fighting the disease.
"We also have had to honor some students who have passed away," Beckwith said.
Beckwith stated that it is important to honor students at the Gold Game because childhood cancer is critically underfunded when it comes to research, drugs and treatment.
"We're just not where we need to be in finding treatments that are sustainable to kids," she said.
She says a vast majority of children who survive pediatric cancer will go on to have other significant health issues by the time they are 45-- not because of the disease, but because of the treatment.
"Statistically this year, there will be about 16, 000 kids in the United States diagnosed with cancer, and when that happens, it throws their whole family into chaos. It has big impacts on the whole family. "
The district will honor the following Flour Bluff Students at tonight's game:
- Zoey Schillinger
- Madison Beckwith
- Mary Shannon
- Nyla Nerren
- Tre Maddox
- Kaedon Turner
They will also play in memory of these Flour Bluff children:
- Lucus Jones
- Alyssa Bouve
- Trenton Haynes
- Layla Sabatini
- Reid Ebram
