Hardin County Goes Gold to Fight Cancer
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SAVANNAH, Tenn.- Hardin County High School is typically known as the “Maroon Nation”, but fans and players are wearing a different color for the month of September. They are going gold in support for a cure for childhood cancer, and in support of some of their own. While cheering for their Tigers, Hardin County fans will cheer for cancer patients and survivors, wearing gold shirts – and players gold socks. “Our son Aaron is 16. When he was 11, he was diagnosed a very rare brain cancer,” said Kristie Bell. “He has had two brain surgeries, surgery on his back, 90 rounds of radiation.” Aaron is now cancer-free. Although he Is a junior, it Is his first football season as a healthy high school student. “September of 9th grade and September of 10th grade, we were at LeBonheur having surgery and then at St. Jude having radiation treatments,” said Bell. No matter which team fans are there to support, the Bell family hopes they are also there to support an end to childhood cancer. “There’s only been two new chemos approved for childhood cancer in the last 20 years, so this is why we desperately need money, we desperately need research,” said Chris Bell, Aaron’s dad. In order to raise that money, Aaron’s parents organized a gold t-shirt sale. The proceeds will go to “Team Aaron” for the St. Jude Marathon. As of Friday afternoon, Hardin County sold nearly 1,200 shirts, raising over $5,000. The Bells said the experience has been inspiring. “We thought, ‘Oh, two, three maybe 400 t-shirts would be sold. But just to think that there’s 1200 people in Hardin County who are willing to give up their money to help this cause – it’s really humbling,” said Kristie Bell. “The community gather around us and showed us more love than we deserve, and we’re very grateful for that,” said Chris Bell. The Bells also sold gold paper fans for the game.
