Cancer hits hard; Eastview basketball community hits back harder

Girls program rallies to support player’s mom

Athletic teams at virtually every level now do fundraisers to bring awareness to various cancer-fighting causes and support to those undergoing treatment. Usually the perspective is big-picture as teams seek to do something to benefit their communities, but oftentimes it also becomes personal.

Such is the case with the Eastview High School girls basketball program, which held its inaugural “Ballin’ for a Cure,” breast cancer awareness fundraiser during a recent game against Mahtomedi. The guest of honor was Amy Purcell, mother of an Eastview girls player (Kyndall, a junior guard) and a University of Minnesota men’s player (Jackson, a sophomore guard and former Lightning boys standout). She supports her daughter and son’s basketball exploits while fighting breast cancer, and at the Ballin’ for a Cure game the support came flowing back.

Amy Purcell spent a couple of years as president of Eastview’s boys basketball booster club and has been involved in organizing the team’s community-driven fundraisers. It didn’t occur to her she might someday be a beneficiary, but “words cannot fully express how grateful I am to live in such a supportive community. The love and support I felt from everyone in attendance was amazing,” she wrote in an email. “When battling cancer, I have had good and bad days physically and mentally, but just feeling all that support really gives me an emotional boost and makes me feel stronger.”

Purcell, also a member of the Eastview girls basketball boosters, noted benefits of the fundraiser will extend beyond her own family. The event raised $750 for the Minnesota Angel Foundation, a Mendota Heights-based agency that supports adults with cancer through financial assistance, education and emotional support.

Purcell’s support group includes Eastview parents who were involved in traveling sports back when Jackson was in third and fourth grade. “I have also leaned on a few moms I have met through basketball who have had their own battles with cancer,” she wrote. “It’s great to have them to talk to and they can relate and listen and share their experiences.”

She wrote how she and her husband Mike have sought to provide their daughter and son with as much information as possible so they can be as clear-minded as possible while playing basketball.

“We think it’s important to be open and honest about everything I am going through and while it was hard at first, that open communication has helped them,” Amy Purcell wrote. “They can see that I am strong and I am a fighter. They have been a tremendous support for me. I am glad that they have basketball as an outlet and they have that support from their teammates and coaches.”

At the Mahtomedi game, Purcell received a basket that included gift cards for meals, massages and a wellness package; cookies, and a pink hat, mittens and socks. Her favorite gift might be “a pair of rose gold pink Jordan high-tops,” she wrote. “I love sneakers, so that was fun and I plan on wearing these to my treatments.”