Support grows for 4-day Wheaton dodgeball event against brain cancer

Yelling, cheers and applause created a chaotic atmosphere Wednesday night at Franklin Middle School, where more than 175 teenage football players packed the gym for a chance to play dodgeball.

The boys - who represented 16 high schools from as far away as New Lenox and Elk Grove Village - weren't just releasing pent-up energy. They were helping raise money to support the Wheaton school and the Ross K. MacNeill Foundation, which aims to end pediatric brain cancer.

"I think it's a really great thing, in this day and age where football's getting beat up a little bit, to see people from the football community getting together," said Principal Joe Kish, who also serves as a coach for the Wheaton Warrenville South High School football team. "It's just a great example of people with the same common interest of football coming together for a greater cause."

Before the four-day, fourth annual Dodgeball Madness Tournament kicked off Wednesday, the student athletes somberly listened to Kim MacNeill tell how her son, Ross, battled brain cancer for 1,411 days.

"In that time, our little boy who played hockey and loved hockey as much as you love football, he never quit playing hockey. He never quit going to school. He worked out once a week with an athletic trainer, he took boxing lessons and then he decided to take up the cello," she said. "He shared with you a competitive spirit that doesn't give up."

Ross died at age 11 in May 2013, a few months before he would have entered Franklin Middle School as a sixth-grader.

Professional athletes were on hand Wednesday to offer their support for the foundation too, including former Chicago Bears player Anthony Adams. In addition, special recognition was given to Andrew Garwood, a 2011 Glenbard West graduate and football player who died of brain cancer in January.

Kish said the tournament raised more than $23,000 last year through registration fees, donations, sponsorships and auction items.

Kim said seeing the event grow from two to four days this year, with hundreds of participants of varying ages and backgrounds, makes her feel confident about the foundation's work.

"It's expanded beyond that core group of friends who knew Ross and friends who know our family. Now there's an audience that we've prayed for that is far bigger," she said. "We're not alone. This isn't just up to us. People are joining us every day. This will get done and we will give 110 percent to it."