Friends and Neighbors: Patty Shaw

This is a big year for the Andy Shaw Memorial Softball Tournament – it is 10 years old.

The tournament first began as a fundraising effort for its namesake, Andy Shaw, according to his mom, Patty.

"About five months before his 21st birthday, Andy was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma," Shaw said. "He was fighting it, and he went to Denver for a stem cell transplant and some of his friends decided to have a co-ed softball game to raise money for his medical bills. It wasn't that Andy was that big into baseball, it was just that's what they decided to do for a money making thing."

The tournament was a big hit and raised funds for the medical bills that had been piling up.

"They created a monster," she added. "It was a two-day event and they sold shirts, they butchered two hogs to feed all the people, they had a raffle – I mean it was huge."

"That year (2006) was the year he died," she said. "He died two months before his 25th birthday."

In light of the huge amount of community support they received during Andy's illness, Shaw, along with some of Andy's friends, continued organizing the successful softball tournament to raise funds for others in this area who are battling cancer. Perhaps the pamphlet for the tournament said it best, Shaw added.

"Andy's family desperately wanted to give something back to the community, not as a repayment, but as a reminder of all that their son meant to them in his short life."

"Face it – if you live in Kimball, Dix, Potter, Harrisburg, Bushnell, Sidney – you have to travel for cancer treatments," Shaw said. "So my philosophy was that I would rather give five people $100 than one person $500. And we have grown to where we are giving much more money now, which pleases me."

The fund began giving $100 to each recipient and is now giving $300. To date 55 people have received funds, some more than once, according to Shaw.

Those who receive money for cancer treatment can seek it again the following year if they are still battling cancer, Shaw said.

"There are some people we have given two, three or four times because they are still battling," Shaw said. "We are pretty excited because we have been able to grow the amount we give."

The tournament has continued growing, and because it is the 10th anniversary, the organizers sought to have a really big prize for the winners, with 16-18 teams anticipated this year.

"I want it noted that this huge prize money that we are offering is not coming out of the memorial fund," she said.

The extra prize money, $1,000 for first place, $350 for second place and $150 for third place, was raised in in addition to the funds raised for the memorial fund.

"We are always in a catch-22 where we have not quite enough teams for two days but too many for one day," Shaw said. "This year it will be a two-day tournament."

There will be music, a lot of food, and a balloon release on the second day. In addition, this year shirts can be ordered as a t-shirt, a long sleeved tee, a sweatshirt or a hoodie and it will have a collage of the photos from the last ten years' photos.

"A lot of the people that are playing in the ballgame now didn't know Andy," Shaw said. "So its really not about Andy, it is about our local community and their fight with cancer."

The memorial fund has been funded almost entirely through the softball tournament, but Shaw added that it would be a good place to donate memorials as well.

"A lot of people don't think about this cause when considering memorials," she said. "This fund stays in this community and every dollar made is given to those in need."

Even so, having enough to give to others is not her biggest challenge. Shaw said her bigger challenge is encouraging people to ask for the funds.

"I don't know if it is because people don't know about it or if they are too shy to ask or if they feel like they don't deserve it – someone else does," Shaw said. "The only way I have been able to give money is by hearsay, someone calling and saying so-and-so has cancer."

Instead, when she hears that someone is battling cancer, Shaw will call them and offer the funds. Even then, she said they will often tell her to give it to someone who may need it more.

"I want people to not be afraid to ask," she added. "Cancer is emotionally, physically and financially draining and if we can help in any way, by alleviating a little bit of that stress, that is what it is for. That is why we work so hard, to be able to give to people that are fighting cancer."