Last year, former Ellettsville Fire Department volunteer firefighter Jeff Hackett was told T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma would take his life. But thanks to a stem cell transplant from his brother, he was able to overcome it earlier this year.
The Bloomington-based semi-pro football team Indiana Cutters organized a game and concert featuring the Jake Dodds Band as a benefit to take place at Edgewood High School.
Proceeds, after expenses, from the game will go to the Jeffstrong Foundation, as will 50% of Jake Dodds’ merchandise sales and revenue from a silent auction and sponsorship.
Stephanie Smith, Indiana Cutters board president, said the team usually does two benefit games per season.
“(Indiana Cutters Director of Game Day Operations Jim Allen) has been the heart and all of the muscle of this operation,” Smith said.
Discussion of the benefit began in January, when Allen approached Dodds and the Indiana Cutters board of directors about doing a benefit.
Though Allen did not know Hackett when he made the suggestion, they had “crossed paths a few times at ambulance scenes or accident scenes.” That is because Allen is a firefighter and Hackett is an emergency medical technician.
Allen himself has had cancer twice in the form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“I know what it feels like when the doctor comes in and tells you you have cancer,” he said.
According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, lymphoblastic lymphoma is a “relatively rare” variety of leukemia that is most prevalent in people under 35 years old.
Intensive chemotherapy is the standard treatment and is generally effective. That was not the case for Hackett, who went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments between his diagnosis in November 2014 and when doctors told him there was nothing more they could do for him in Indiana in July 2015.
He and his wife, Shauna, were sent to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha to participate in a clinical trial. The trial treatment sought to prevent new cancer cells from forming while removing cancer cells that already had formed in preparation for a stem cell transplant.
The treatment and the transplant were successful.
On June 12, the pregame concert will feature the Jake Dodds Band at 1 p.m., then the undefeated Indiana Cutters take on the also-undefeated Tri-City Outlaws at 2 p.m. District 60 state Rep. Peggy Mayfield will do the coin toss. Concessions will be sold by the Edgewood Band Boosters, and there will be face painters and temporary tattoos.
“There’s a lot involved, especially when you’ve got something like this going on,” Allen said. “But it’s worth it in the end.”
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.