Lady Warriors Support "Fight Like Britt" Initiative

A competitive swimmer from the age of four, Britt decided that college was a time to try a new challenge. She received a partial scholarship to join the women’s rowing team at Clemson, where she earned four letters and won an ACC championship her sophomore year. Britt loved sports and the discipline that participating in them required. Britt had expressly asked that money raised in her honor be donated to women’s sports programs with the hopes of raising awareness about the symptoms, risk factors, and preventative methods in the fight against ovarian cancer.

Coach Thompson has known the Burns family for quite some time and with their youngest child, eighth grader Zi, now on his team, it seemed an appropriate time for the foundation to give the Sanford program one of their grants. This is the first time that a donation has been made to a high-school program. Sanford joins the ranks of Clemson, Duke, Arizona State, Boston College, the University of Delaware and others as a recipient. “This is a win-win for my team,” stated Thompson. “We are honored and excited to be a part of this program.” Zi Burns shared, “It has been very cool for my teammates to support me and our foundation. It is really good to honor my sister’s memory while educating women about the disease. It is important for me to be able to do this through participation in athletics.”

Those teams who receive a grant are asked only to help the Fight Like Britt Foundation achieve its expressly stated goal of reaching a million people and educating them about ovarian cancer and saving at least one young person’s life. Working with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC), teams receive informational pamphlets to be distributed at games. They can then decide what they want to do to help share the message. “By doing this, we are also hoping that the girls on the teams will become more familiar with this dreaded disease,” said Ty Burns. “If we can save one life, it is all worthwhile.”

Sanford has created a banner to showcase the campaign, and they are passing out information at all home games. Additionally, they donated a portion of their grant money to help fund the Diamond State Classic, the largest showcase event for girls’ basketball in the East Coast. “By using the platform of this premiere event, we helped educate girls on 20 nationwide teams. The ovarian cancer message has been taken back to California, Florida, New York, and other states, as well as in Delaware,” explained Thompson. The Burns family was present on December 27, 2017, at St. Elizabeth High School for the presentation, with a packed house in the stands to witness the event. Senior co-captain Lexi Fotakos shared, “We passed out ovarian cancer wristbands to all the participants, and we took a big group photo around a Christmas tree at the St. E’s event. We were opposing teams on the court, but we were united in our support to spread the message about ovarian cancer.”

Moving forward, the team plans to wear teal laces, the color associated with ovarian cancer, as a tangible reminder that they are going to “Fight Like Britt.” Junior co-captain Olivia Tucker explained, “It is important for us to spread awareness to help other women—young or old—with the hopes of preventing or at least catching the disease early. We are going to continue to pass out wristbands to our opponents at all home games, and as a team, we will brainstorm to come up with other ideas as the season progresses.” Fotakos added, “Everyone on the team is excited to be a part of this. Since I have been on this basketball team, we have never embraced such a long-term community service project, and we are all glad that we were given this chance to help make a difference.”

Thompson concluded, “We are considering ways to coordinate our efforts with the Coaches Against Cancer Campaign, where other foundations also have a presence. Our involvement with Fight Like Britt reminds my girls that you may get something, but you must always give something back. They are responding with the heart and soul and enthusiasm that I expect from my team, and I am proud of their efforts. They are helping to maintain Brittany’s legacy.”