Hope Comes In All Colors
It’ll be about a lot more than volleyball when Blue River and Monroe Central square off Thursday night.
“As much as they get out and play for the coaches, [Thursday] they’re playing for the cancer,” said Sonja Thornburgh, Blue River’s junior varsity coach. “Not just those in attendance, but everyone fighting this.”
The “Hope Comes in All Colors” event starts at 6 p.m. Thursday at Blue River High School, in conjunction with the girls volleyball match. Money raised from pre-sale T-shirts and a raffle for a dozen donated items from local organizations will go to The Little Red Door Cancer Agency.
Thornburgh confirmed with her father’s oncologist that the Little Red Door helped people with cancer in the Henry County area.
The beginning of 2015 brought with it a diagnosis for Thornburgh’s father, Gene Selvidge, who has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Though the Blue River volleyball team aims to host a cancer awareness event every year, this one is special for Thornburgh.
She’ll be honoring her father, and every family, for that matter, currently fighting cancer.
“Whether we’re walking in that moment, or supporting someone else walking in that moment, we understand what that struggle is,” Thornburgh said.
It’s important to Thornburgh that this year’s event doesn’t focus solely on breast cancer though it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Between the two teams, 22 close family members have had some form of cancer.
A quote printed on bookmarks to be handed out at the event sums up Thornburgh’s take on raising awareness: “Supporting the fighters, admiring the survivors, honoring the taken and never ever giving up hope.”
Though she found it on Pinterest, the quote was too perfect to pass up, Thornburgh admitted with a laugh. She’s been inspired by the way players on her team, their parents and local organizations have pulled together to make the event possible. She said about $250 has been raised so far.
“I’m really humbled,” she said. “We had no idea how many people were impacted by doing an event like this.”
Blue River players will also do their part by dropping off “care baskets” with music, movies, candy and blankets to cancer patients after the event. Tickets to the Hope Comes in All Colors event are available at the door for $5.