Two rival schools, Mason and Sycamore, came together to raise money to support the Lothrop family.

Liz Lothrop attended Mason High School, and her father, Randy Lothrop, is a math teacher here at Sycamore. Liz has been battling leukemia since she was 14 and was recently diagnosed in June with glioblastoma brain cancer.

Liz said, “With events like this, there are two different schools coming together, but honestly it feels like one huge community.”

Multiple fundraisers were run for the Lothrop family.

Lady Aves for Liz was a volleyball game where the proceeds went to Duke Brain Cancer Research. Hoops for Hope was a basketball game against Mason where the proceeds also went toward Duke. T-shirts were sold, and raffle tickets and the game tickets went toward the Lothrops.

At the basketball game, the Firecrackers, a jump rope team, performed at half-time. The Firecrackers are composed of third to eighth graders from the Kings school district.

Over $9,000 was raised in the Hoops for Hope game.

Liz said, “If you’re going to be given something, then you have to make the best out of it or you’re not going to learn from it.”

“Being in this situation, I mean I can only grow as a person, I can’t get down with what I have.”