Dodgeball fundraiser benefits two Hampshire families

The Hampshire High School gym was anything but quiet Sunday as spectators filled the stands to cheer for friends and family competing in the school’s 2nd annual dodgeball tournament. Proceeds from the event will be split among three causes — the “Keeping Students Safe” post prom event, the family of Brian Anderson and the family of Ty Brill.

Brill is a 6-year-old fighter of a very rare type of cancer called nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin’s. He felt a lump in his neck in July 2009 and asked his mom what it was.

After finding out, Brill underwent a surgery and started chemotherapy, a process that knocked him out for a few days every time he went. But Brill is now in remission, playing sports again and living life like most of his peers.

“Every week he gets a little stronger,” said his mother, Terry Brill.

Periodic doctors appointments and daily medication are still necessary, though. Brill gets his heart checked out every six to eight weeks because of complications from the chemo and he gets tested every three months to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned.

Eventually, the frequency of his tests will reduce to every six months and then less and less often.

“He’s on a 20-year plan,” said Terry Brill.

Brian Anderson had CML Leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, and was chosen as a recipient for Sundays fundraiser before he died in January. Organizers still plan to give part of the proceeds to his family to help defray his medical bills stemming from a July bone marrow transplant and ensuing 78-day hospital stay.

The post-prom event is organized every year to give students a safe after-party once the dance ends.

Twenty teams competed on Sunday in two different brackets, first playing in a round robin format, then switching to single elimination for the ultimate winner.

Patti Nihells, a Physical Education teacher at Hampshire High School, organized the dodgeball portion of the tournament while a parent committee organized sponsors and publicity. Nihells said the turnout was pretty equal to last year’s event and she hopes it will grow next year.

“We are very pleased with the adults that are participating, but we’d like to see more high schoolers joining,” Nihells said.

Next year the tournament will be held the weekend after the Super Bowl.

Team captains of this year’s winning teams were Sean O’Shea, Scott Johnston and Cameron Waterworth in first, second and third place, respectively.