How a 14-year-old cancer patient designed Jerry Stackhouse's sneakers for Vanderbilt vs. UK

Jayden Bailey comes from a basketball family. He's a small forward who models his game after Kevin Durant. But in June, Bailey had to put his basketball career on hold. He saw a doctor after experiencing more pain than usual after an AAU tournament. That pain was found to be cancer.

In January, Bailey, 14, was given a unique opportunity from the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and Seacrest Studios. They knew Bailey loved basketball, so they gave him the opportunity to design the sneakers Jerry Stackhouse would wear during the Commodores' matchup with Kentucky on Tuesday.

The shoes are part of the Suits and Sneakers initiative, an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society where basketball coaches where custom sneakers with their suits on the sidelines to raise awareness for cancer prevention.

"As a program, we are touched to help bring continued awareness to the fight against cancer through the Suits and Sneakers initiative," Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse said in a statement to The Tennessean. "We hope our efforts inspire those fighting this awful disease. ... Our Commodore program is always ready and honored to help support Jayden and all those fighting.  We are all in this fight together."

Bailey came up with the idea for the shoes, which took inspiration from both Vanderbilt's black and gold and the gold ribbon for childhood cancer. His mom, London Elie, helped draw up the design.

"I wanted to put his face on it and everything, but he's like, no, I just want to go with the ... as long as we got the Vanderbilt and childhood cancer, the colors were kind of similar, and we originally were going to put the gold ribbon on there, but we just kept it."

Though Bailey's face isn't on the shoes, his name is embossed on the back: "Jayden's journey." In addition to the shoes, Bailey and his family got a special spot for the game just behind the Vanderbilt bench.

"I think it's really cool," Bailey said of seeing Stackhouse wear the shoes he designed. "This is probably the nicest gym I've been in."

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball: Jerry Stackhouse sneakers designed by cancer patient