by Matt Kennedy
This past Thursday night a Zumbathon was held at Brownson Arena. The event consisted of a gigantic Zumba class to raise money and awareness for Ryan Teixeira, a sophomore CMU baseball player who is battling cancer for the second time.
His senior year in high school was the first-time Teixeira was diagnosed with cancer. Teixeira won his first battle, but now he is fighting for his life again. He is currently at UCLA receiving treatment, and Teixeira and his family are preparing to continue treatment. Teixeira is constantly talked about by his peers as a caring and loving person who works hard at everything he does.
The community is rallying behind “17 Strong,” which is Teixeira’s baseball number. The
Zumbathon consisted of numerous people wearing the “17 Strong” T-shirts with hundreds of people around the community coming to support the cause while enjoying a fun night of dancing. It is not very often you see grown men wearing bright colored clothing and headbands while jumping and moving to Shakira.
The Zumbathon also gave the opportunity for students and other adults to come and register to be a bone marrow donor. They could swab the inside of their mouth to be tested for matches for those in need of a donor.
Kinesiology professor, Kristin Heumann, and baseball coach, Sean McKinney helped run the bone marrow registration procedure. They emphasized how important it is for people to consider donating or at least registering to become a donor.
“Over 2 million people tested and none were a match for Ryan. […] If it wasn’t for his brother he would not have had a match,” McKinney said.
Heumann estimated that about 300 people came to support the event, but not all of them registered to become a donor. Both Heumann and McKinney want student to think about becoming a donor in order to save someone’s life and they encourage any CMU students to contact them if they have any interest in doing so.
Will Dixon, teammate of Teixeira, explained that Teixeira is in good spirits. When asked about Teixeira, Dixon said, “He is one of the nicest people I have ever met.”
This is one of the common attributes people bring up when asked about Teixeira and people are amazed about his positive attitude during this hard time.
