Jeff Gordon, NASCAR team up with Phoenix Children's to support pediatric cancer treatment

NASCAR brought a championship pedigree to the Arizona Biltmore on Wednesday to help promote the start of the playoffs and raise money for a great cause.

Jeff Gordon, Chase Elliott and Dale Jarrett, along with Phoenix Raceway, helped kick off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by teaming up with Phoenix Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders to shed light on diseases that affect over 15,000 children in the U.S. every year.

Gordon, the four-time Cup Series champion, was one of two guests of honor for the inaugural Championship Ignition Luncheon. The Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman, Gordon has a deep affinity in raising awareness for childhood pediatric cancer treatment dating back to the late 1990’s.

His passion derives from a relationship he had with his crew chief of 10 years, Ray Evernham, whose son was diagnosed with leukemia in 1992. Experiencing the tribulations of dealing with this illness through a close friend struck a chord with the 51-year-old champion and prompted him to start the Jeff Gordon Foundation, which highlights childhood pediatric cancer.

“It was the first time that anyone close to me was going through something that was that difficult on their family and what it was doing to their son,” Gordon said. “It made me more aware of the need for research and the need for better treatments, long-term treatments, the effects of those treatments and how we could find ways to fund that, because how little funding comes.”

As noted by Dr. Mario Otto, division chief and Doris S. Norton Endowed Chair at Phoenix Children’s, the effort philanthropists like Gordon put into raising money towards research is crucial in the fight to end childhood pediatric cancer completely.

Specialists like Otto made significant strides by taking what was a 15% survival rate in 1960 and dramatically increasing that to 80%. Yet progress remains to be made in order to abolish the diseases completely and eliminate long-term side effects following extensive treatments.

For Otto, seeing prominent figures such as Gordon taking the initiative to raise awareness to pediatric cancer is both commendable and imperative.

“Pediatric cancer is one of those diseases that are flying a little bit under the radar in the public because it’s a fairly rare disease, but there’s a lot that we can do for these patients, but we need to have the support of our community,” Otto said.

Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion and the event's co-guest of honor, runs a foundation of his own based in his home state of Georgia. It's a non-profit aimed at supporting charitable organizations such as the Phoenix Children’s Foundation across the country. Through various promotions, Elliott has raised over $250,000 to help others live happier and healthier lives.

In an effort to promote Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Elliott will pilot a special paint scheme in the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway this weekend designed by a cancer patient at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“My foundation’s worked closely with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta really since the inception of my foundation and it’s just been an easy fit,” Elliott said. “They have a nice leadership group down there that’s been willing to have us do things like this (luncheon) and get the hospitals involved and have opportunities for some of their patients to get outside of their normal days and bring some of their imaginations to life.”

Jarrett, a NASCAR TV analyst and the 1999 champion, served as master of ceremonies for the event and took great pride in sharing the journey of Daniel Sanchez: a child admitted to Phoenix Children’s in 2020 with a rare form of bone cancer who was in attendance with his mother Janeth for the luncheon.

Jarrett’s mission for raising awareness to children’s pediatric cancers goes back to a connection he made with Gordon when they opened a new unit in the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach called Speediatrics. The NASCAR-themed program helps care for over 2,000 children each year in Central Florida.

“Something that is near and dear to my heart is children’s cancer and the things that our young people have to go through that they should never have to imagine,” Jarrett said. “But I get excited about opportunities like this, because I know it’s something that means a lot to the community and I’m glad to be a part of this community now and be able to help out in this respect.”

The NASCAR luncheon raised more than $40,000 for Phoenix Children’s in its first year. The goal for Phoenix Raceway and the sport is to make this an annual tradition which supports local communities in the fight against pediatric cancer for years to come. Charitable donations can be made to Phoenix Children’s at phoenixchildrens.org/ways-help/make-donation.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: NASCAR, Phoenix Children's team up to support pediatric cancer treatment