Lakeville, Minn. rivals team up to battle breast, ovarian cancer

LAKEVILLE, Minn. (KMSP) - Lakeville North and Lakeville South High Schools are rivals on the basketball court, but during Friday night’s game, the teams came together to take on the fight to end breast and ovarian cancer.

For Lakeville South shooting guard Cade Carlson, there was more than a duel at hand. His grandmother died from ovarian cancer when she was just 54 years old.

For Carlson and his teammates, the real battle was not against their crosstown rival, but against breast and ovarian cancer.

The teams turned their biggest game of the season – against each other – into a fundraiser for the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, started with help from Carlson’s grandmother, Molly Cade, in 1999, before ovarian cancer took her life in 2003. Together, the teams and their fans raised $5,000 for MOCA.

“Everybody has some sort of connection to it where somebody they know or love has been affected by it, so it’s really cool that everybody can get behind the same cause on a night that we’re competing against each other,” Lakeville South forward Kyle Martin said. 

The money will go towards efforts to raise awareness for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and research that will make a difference.

1 in 7 women can expect to develop breast cancer over the course of their lives and 1 in 72 women are at risk of developing ovarian cancer. But unlike what’s available for breast cancer, there’s no early detection for ovarian cancer, according to MOCA’s communications manager Becky Lechner.

“It’s really cool to be helping other people other families so they don’t have to lose loved ones,” Carlson said.
The money the Cougars and the Panthers raised will also go towards increasing awareness about genetic counseling on both breast and ovarian cancer.

MOCA is also part of the SuperYou campaign along with the Minnesota Dept of Health, Susan G Komen, FORCE and Minnesota Genetic Counselors Association. More info at http://mncanceralliance.org