ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Carilion Children’s and the Virginia Tech Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams are joining forces to bring awareness to childhood cancer.
Patients at Carilion Children’s got to decorate pairs of sneakers with the players for the upcoming Coaches vs. Cancer games at Virginia Tech in January.
It’s a tradition hosted by the NCAA where Virginia Tech coaches and staff will wear the customized shoes to bring awareness to childhood cancer.
“Every year the coaches wear a certain pair of shoes, as to bring awareness to cancer, specifically childhood cancer. so to be able to paint shoes for the coaches to wear, it’s really been awesome,” said men’s forward, Justyn Mutts.
Cancer patients like eighth grader, Kyler Jones got the chance to hang out with the basketball stars while painting his pair of shoes.
“It’s been really fun. It’s nice talking to the players and coaches who I watch on TV and stuff and come here to talk with kids with cancers and bring awareness to it is really nice,” said Jones.
The goal is to bring awareness to the disease, while also putting a smile on some of the faces that need it most.
“You really don’t know what these kids are going through. And to be able to come here and take their mind off everything they have to go through everyday, I think that’s big for them,” said women’s guard, Carleigh Wenzel.
You can see the shoes hit the court on January 12th and 28th.