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Blazers play at benefit

Posted on Oct 26, 2009 in Sports

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The UAB softball team participated in the fifth annual “Knockin’ Cancer Out of the Ballpark” tournament Saturday at the Samford Softball Complex. UAB and Samford, along with UAH and Jefferson State, played to raise money for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.

Admission to the tournament was free and all donations received directly benefit the UAB Pediatric Neuro-Oncology program at Children’s Hospital.

“Knockin’ Cancer Out of the Ballpark” was founded in 2004 to support pediatric cancer research in honor of Andrew Long. Long was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2004, and passed away in 2007 at the age of 8. The tournament has raised more than $90,000 for Children’s Hospital in the past four years.

The Children’s Hospital of Alabama is the 10th busiest pediatric medical center in the United States. The UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children’s Hospital is Alabama’s single largest provider of specialized pediatric services for all forms of cancer, leukemia, brain and spinal cord tumors, hemophilia and other bleeding disorders and sickle cell diseases.

It is also home to the Lowder Bone Marrow Transplant program, the only pediatric bone marrow transplant program in the state. Ninety-five percent of the children in Alabama diagnosed with childhood cancer and other blood disorders are treated by the UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children’s Hospital.