Jared Daniels
Staff Writer
Cody, Wyoming is sponsoring a celebrity softball event to help fight cancer through donations for cancer research.
“[We’re] planning on making this a yearly event,” said Ryan Brown, athletics coordinator in Cody and host of Sports Nuts of the Round Table, a live radio show. “The response has been incredible.”
Brown said he is trying to raise as much money as possible for cancer research through this event.
The event will begin June 12 with a Dinner on the Diamond Banquet in which sponsors will be announced, and the game will begin the next day after the gates open with a homerun derby. The derby will be followed by a softball game and a concert at the end of the event. Many celebrities have confirmed their attendance for this event including actors, actresses, sports professionals and singers. Some celebrities that will be attending include Harrison Ford, Kanye West and Coyote Peterson.
Sports professionals such as football players Chris Cooley, James Daniels and Levi Williams, a Wyoming Quarterback, will also be attending the event along with baseball, basketball and bullfighting professionals. A list of all confirmed celebrities participating in this event can be found online.
“My father passed away eleven years ago from cancer,” said Brown. “Cancer affects everyone, even if you don’t have it yourself.”
Cancer is currently a group of uncontrollable diseases in which abnormal cells grow rapidly and uncontrollably through the body and is the one of the leading cause of death in the world, according to Our World in Data.
According to the American Cancer Society in the United States, there will be a predicted 1.8 million cancer cases that have been diagnosed and over 600 thousand deaths caused by cancer. The money donated to cancer centers goes into research and services for cancer. In 2017, only $5,636.4 million in funds was available to the National Cancer Institute from donations and government funding.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is looking to lead the world in treating and curing childhood diseases, including cancer. Treatments invented at Saint Jude have increased the cancer survival rate from 20% to 80%, according to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Bighorn Basin Cancer Center provides treatment for patients though Northern Wyoming.
Tickets are available for this event and can be purchased online. Currently VIP, home plate and homerun seating are all sold out. Bleacher seating and upper hill seating remain with 412 tickets, as of yesterday.
Sponsorships for the event are available to be made online. Donations for the event are tax deductible and are split between Cody’s Bighorn Basin Cancer Research Center and Saint Jude Children’s Hospital. The sponsorships for the event are tiered and come with different opportunities based on the amount. These opportunities vary from ad size to public recognition depending on the amount sponsored for the event.
Many organizations including Sports Nuts of the Round Table, Saint Jude Children’s Hospital, Cody Regional Health Foundation and The Bighorn Radio Network are hosting the Celebrities Against Cancer event.
The first annual Celebrities Against Cancer event will be held in Cody at the Milward Simpson Field. The event will be held June 12-13, 2020. Gates to the Milward Simpson Field will open to the event at noon June 13, 2020.
