DU 3-on-3 tournament raises $5,000 for Tomorrows Children's Fund in honor of Kevin Galasso

When sophomore pitcher Kevin Galasso of the Tufts baseball team went for surgery for his lymph nodes last fall, he did not expect to be away from school and from his friends four months later.

“I was going about everyday stuff, going for class, going for workouts, [when] I found out that it was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,” Galasso said. “I was kind of bummed out. I wasn’t able to be at school, I was worried about getting my classes done, still trying to get credits, but the worse part really was being stuck at home these past four months.”

With his high school friends all away at school, it has been the communities that Kevin is a part of at Tufts --- the Delta Upsilon (DU) fraternity and the baseball team -- that have emerged as the pillars of support that he relies on.

“I won’t say I’m lonely because I have my family here, but at the same time I kind of just want to hang out with people, hang out with the guys,” Galasso said. “Family and DU have really been here for me, and that’s really important for treatment. Motivation really does give you that extra boost to get through it.”

Besides the active efforts of both the baseball team and the DU brothers to keep in touch with Kevin through cards, emails and text messages, the baseball team has also made the four-and-a half-hour drive to New Jersey to spend the day with Galasso.

“The DU guys have been amazing, keeping in touch -- sending me cards, sending emails and texts everything like that,” Galasso said. “[And] a couple of times, [the baseball team] actually drove down from Boston to my house in New Jersey to spend the day with me.”

Offering more than just emotional support, the DU fraternity held a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for Galasso at Carzo Cage this past weekend, a 32-team tournament that filled up within a week.

“We were going to organize the tournament, and we thought if we’re going to raise money, why not do it for one of our own,” sophomore and DU Philanthropy Chair Anthony McHale said. “The whole fraternity really rallied around this idea, [and] everyone was enthused for this cause.”

“We had a few chapter meetings, and we were all devastated to hear about Kevin’s diagnosis, [because] every time something like that happens to an organization it hits you, and it hit us,” senior president Matt Cahill said. “If we were in that situation, we would want someone to do something. We wouldn’t want people to be walking around on tiptoes, we would want people to go out and do something, [so] that’s what we did.”

As the players battled on the court, spectators supported a bake sale organized by the Chi Omega sorority, participated in the raffle for Red Sox tickets or bought t-shirts on behalf of Tomorrows Children’s Fund -- the charity that Kevin chose as the event’s beneficiary. The event raised more than $5,000 in total.

“Two-hundred-plus people had RSVP'd to go, so [the event] kind of exploded really quickly. A lot of people were into the 3-on-3 idea so word got out and we sold out all the t-shirts except for maybe ten XLs,” McHale said.

When baseball coach John Casey heard about the tournament, he offered to send out the donation link to the network of baseball alumni, a move that raised more than $3,400 online in less than a week.

“I had captains of the class of 1970 donating, and it goes to show you how much [the Tufts baseball] program means to all the players,” Galasso said. “Even though I’ve never met half those people, they’re still supporting me in any way possible, so it’s really a great community to be a part of.”

Galasso is receiving treatment at the Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), the same hospital at which his sister was treated for leukemia about eight years ago, which kickstarted his connection to the hospital and to the Tomorrows Children’s Fund. The Tomorrows Children’s Fund operates within the hospital, working to lighten the financial load for families with a child diagnosed with cancer. They assist families with anything from mortgage payments and educational grants to offering an array of free activities, events and support services.

“I’m being treated pediatrically, so [there are] lot of kids, ages one to 22, [and] I’m one of the oldest kids there,” Galasso said. “The foundation has helped me a lot. My sister was being treated there [and] I’m being treated there, so I figured I’d give back to all the families going through the same thing.”

"Being home, not being able to do anything is kind of contrary to lifestyle at school where we work all the time, but [I]  know that when this is all done I’ll be back in school doing things I was doing before,” Galasso continued. “[My family] says that this is just a speed bump [and] I’ll be that much more ready to go back to school, that much ready to be more mature. At the same time it makes me appreciate more what I have at Tufts and what the school has done for me in terms of community.”