The Red Card Cancer game between Parkland High School and Emmaus High School is a boys soccer event that takes place in the fall before the start of the regular soccer season in the spring. Popularity of the event comes from the historic rivalry between the two programs as well as the cause it supports and represents.
Both teams warmed up in pink Red Card Cancer program shirts showing support for the now widespread program, as part of the event’s commitment to raise greater awareness for breast cancer.
Red Card Cancer started on the campus of Bloomsburg University by founder Paul Payne after he lost his mentor, Joe Bichicchio, to melanoma in 2009. Since its inception, Red Card Cancer has accomplished national outreach partnering with the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at John Hopkins University and the American Cancer Society.
Clare Harvey, Student Support Dean at Lower Macungie Middle School, has organized the event for the last two years. A primary reason she continues the event is to raise money for such a great cause and is continuing to look for ways to get more people involved.
“This is Emmaus’s 10th year joining forces with Parkland to raise money for cancer awareness,” Harvey said. “You can come out to the game next year, and we are thinking about selling t-shirts to get the student-body more involved which should be really exciting,” Harvey said.
This year, Harvey and many others wanted to try something different and dedicate the game to someone special connected to the EHS community.
“We are dedicating this game to the memory of Hailey Cook who sadly lost her battle to leukemia this past summer, so we are donating half of our donations to the Hailey Cook Scholarship Fund and the other half to the American Cancer Society,” Harvey said.
One of the goals of the program is to grow quickly and recruit more people to spread awareness and help run the event.
“It’s a joint effort because we realized that a lot of people want to come out and see this particular game because it’s always such a great matchup. So it’s really neat that these two really strong teams have always united to raise funds for such a good cause on this night because we know that we are going to have so many good fans in the stands.”
The Red Card Cancer game and cause grows each year – both schools continue to fight to spread awareness for the urgent need for a cure.
“I think you can do anything with this many people under one roof, and when we all know someone personally who has had cancer, I think you’re gonna raise a lot of awareness, and we are all here for good fun and to see a good soccer match,” Harvey said.
When the EHS community got the news that Hailey Cook lost her battle with cancer, it devastated not only her friends and family but the whole area.
“For me personally, I am a teacher in the district. When I know we have lost students to cancer, it is very sad for me when we see all that potential lost to a horrible disease like cancer. It’s very sad, which makes me very devoted towards the cause,” Harvey said. “You can come out to the game next year, and we are thinking about selling t-shirts to get the student body more involved which should be really exciting.”
The results of this year’s Red Card Cancer game on Oct. 11, ended with the Hornets handling the Trojans in a 3-1 victory – never relinquishing the lead from the first goal scored. EHS varsity soccer coach, John Cari, was ecstatic about not only the win but the purpose behind the game.
“It’s such an important cause. We have been working with Red Card Cancer for ten years now, and you know I think it sits in the back of all our minds that you don’t want to see anything happen to them,” Cari said. “Hailey Cook played with my daughter, and when we found out what happened, it hit home. We knew her well. I am very proud of our efforts tonight and happy we were able to win on this night.”
Junior forward Kai Mattern who contributed a goal to the Hornet’s victory gave his thoughts on the win against Parkland during the Red Card Cancer event.
“It was just a great experience to score and beat Parkland even though we did concede one goal, but we came out with a victory on a great night to do it.”
EHS will continue their partnership with the Red Card Cancer program for next year. Both Emmaus and Parkland will continue to spread awareness that not only affects the local community but those all across the world.
