Roanoke’s pediatric cancer care is being supported by a coalition of citizens and celebrities

Roanoke, Virginia – Kelly Woolwine stated it succinctly in his message that he delivered to the guests at Ballyhack Golf Club on Friday night: the fight against childhood cancer is one that never really becomes over.

After receiving the news that their daughter, Charlotte, had been diagnosed with liver cancer when she was three and a half years old, Kelly and his wife Jess got together to establish the Life Ring Foundation.
In order to build a pediatric cancer center in addition to the Carilion Clinic, their current objective is to raise ten million dollars over the course of the next five years.

“Pediatric cancer is still, unfortunately, a little bit invisible out there,” said Woolwine. “It’s unlike a lot of other things that we deal with in health. The kids don’t have a voice. So goal number one is to share some stories, let everybody meet our ambassadors and understand a few days in the life of that world. The other goal is to raise money. We want to be able to help our healthcare system partner hire more people, get more machines, more tools, more resources in the region to help kids win the fight.”

The Charlotte’s Play Yellow benefit golf excursion reached its aim of generating $1.2 million over the course of the weekend, and it was successful in doing so for the second year in a row. The event received support from a number of famous guests as well as from the local community.

“I think to show that we’re supporting it, that so many are supporting it, we’re raising awareness to the cause,” said Virginia Tech head football coach Brent Pry. “That all is significant and each year, it’s going to grow. It’s going to be bigger and better, and we’re going to get there.”

“Bringing awareness to such a good cause,” said Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane. “People like us have a platform, especially in Blacksburg, being able to do a good deed and spread awareness, that’s the biggest goal.”

“I’m so honored to actually be here and come out and support Life Ring Foundation,” said Virginia Tech defensive lineman Aenas Peebles. “Mr. Kelly Woolwine, he’s done so much for Tech and our community and our team and our staff, so it’s really an honor to come back here and give back and participate in his foundation the same way he puts into us.”

“Being a Virginia guy, knowing that I’m helping out kids that I could have been growing up, and things like that,” said Virginia Tech wide receiver Ali Jennings. “Just being able to support the kids and doing everything possible that we can, it just means a lot to me.”

“I always look back and reflect that I didn’t ask for great parents, I didn’t ask to be born healthy, I didn’t ask for talent,” said Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen. “I didn’t ask for any of those things, but by the grace of God, I was lucky enough to have all these things, so I live with gratitude, and I think when you have gratitude, you sort of understand the perspective that you have a platform and you try to use it for good and help people.”

“I think it’s very important to fight any kind of sickness, but cancer for sure,” said Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson. “My daughter was sick and in the hospital for two years, not with cancer, but I know that feeling as a parent, how stressed out you are, how you wish every day it was you. And every day you wake up and hope today is a good day, so I’m glad to be here.”

“When you climb the ladder of success, always reach back and try to pull somebody else up that ladder physically, mentally, philanthropically,” said former NFL and MLB star Bo Jackson. “So we, as ‘healthy’ human beings gotta do whatever we can to help kids that’s battling this evil monster.”