Vic Beasley’s still raising funds to fight childhood cancers with the Rally Foundation

Mary Tipton Carter is 10 years old, she loves basketball, and she’s hilarious. She’s also a Rally Kid who fought, and is beating, solid tumor cancer. And kids like Mary Tipton are the reason Vic Beasley is so committed to supporting the work of the Rally Foundation.

The Rally Foundation raises money to help fund research to defeat childhood cancers, but to Rally Kids and their families, this organization means so much more than that.

Beasley hosted a dinner Saturday to thank people who participated in his Sack and Tackle Challenge last year, and Mary Tipton gave a speech that summed up why the work Beasley does with Rally is so important. She was kind enough to share that speech with me, and I want you to read it in her own words.

Mary Tipton began her speech after threatening to confiscate her mother’s cell phone if she didn’t stop taking photos. (I absolutely adore this kid, by the way. She’s a firecracker.)

Good evening. My name is Mary Tipton Carter and I am a Rally Kid. If you don’t know what a Rally Kid is, a Rally Kid is a child who has or had cancer and is involved with the Rally Foundation. The Rally Foundation raises money for childhood cancer. This is because the National Cancer Institute only donates 4 percent of their money to childhood cancer research and the rest goes to adults. This is why there are so many organizations, including Rally, that have been made to raise money.

Rally also supports Rally Kids. They come visit the Rally Kids while they’re in the hospital. This can be during scans or chemo. They also support us out of the hospital. They invite you to be in fun events like Rally Idol.

It is important for everyone here to contribute to this year’s Vic Beasley Sack and Tackle Challenge because it will raise money for childhood cancer research for better treatments. Who knows, maybe this event could raise enough money to create a whole new treatment! So make sure you do this challenge again.

Rally has lots of fun things that Rally Kids get to do. We get to go to Braves games, Falcons spring training, plus one of my favorites, Rally on the Runway. This is where I became very good friends with our wonderful host, Vic Beasley. So please contribute to the Vic Beasley Sack and Tackle Challenge this year. Thank you.

Beasley launched the Sack and Tackle Challenge last year following the annual Rally on the Runway event. He went on to lead the league in sacks with 15.5 and added 39 tackles. The Challenge was a tremendous success, and Rally and Beasley want to build on that for this year.

A whopping 93 percent of the funds raised by Rally go directly to research and other programs to benefit children fighting cancer. This is a great organization to support, and you can do exactly that by pledging to help with Beasley’s Sack and Tackle Challenge.

At Beasley’s dinner on Saturday night, we also celebrated an important milestone for Mary Tipton. She’s been cancer-free for two years. We want more families to have that outcome, and that’s the reason Beasley will keep working to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancers with the Rally Foundation.