VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Making a difference in the lives of those impacted by pediatric cancer is the goal of a Major League Baseball player from Virginia Beach. Chris Taylor of the LA Dodgers needs your help to make an upcoming event a huge success!
“Everyone has been touched in some way by cancer, and I think it’s important just to bring awareness to it,” said Taylor.
So, Chris Taylor of the LA Dodgers plans to hold an event called Driving for Hope through his CT3 Foundation.
“It’s going to be at Virginia Beach Topgolf, and we’re going to have live music. I think Snack Bar Jones is playing. We’ll hit some golf balls and have football on. Lots of memorabilia to bid on.”
Taylor says some of his gear, as well as signed jerseys by his teammates, will be up for auction.
“Lots of sports memorabilia. I think we’ve got a signed Magic Johnson jersey.”
Taylor says you’ll be able to bid on vacations as well. All proceeds benefit CHKD and the Roc Solid Foundation. Those are two organizations the Fox family of Virginia Beach is intimately aware of.
“Dalton was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma on March 5, 2018,” said Will Fox, Dalton’s dad.
For Will and Jen Fox, CHKD became like a second home to their family as their 9-year-old son Dalton battled cancer.
“They’re amazing. They truly care for your child, your family,” said Jen.
“Angels walking on Earth. They’re amazing,” said Will.
“They become your family, and we’d go to other hospitals with Dalton for second opinions, or surgeries, and he’d say, ‘Mom, I just want to go home.’ And home was CHKD,” said Jen.
The Roc Solid Foundation was there for the Fox family as well. The organization builds playsets for children with cancer. It also provides “Ready Bags” for families of the newly diagnosed.
“It is filled with the essentials for the families. You’ve got your toiletries. You’ve got a blanket. There’s a game of Uno in there. There’s a coffee mug. There’s a face mask. There are earbuds. It gives the families, if they have to stay right at the time of diagnosis in the hospital, they’ve got some essentials right there with them. They don’t have to leave. They don’t have to split up. For me, it was a bag of hope on my back,” said Jen.
In a twist of fate, Dalton’s family met Chris Taylor at an event in Virginia Beach. They learned Chris’s parents live in their neighborhood. Chris and the Fox’s exchanged phone numbers.
“A couple of weeks later he texted me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to meet at my parents’ house? Bring Dalton,” said Will.
The friendship formed from there.
“Every time Chris was in town, he would text and say, ‘Hey Dalton, do you want to come hang out?’
“It gave Dalton something to look forward to, and he enjoyed watching the games at night, or looking at the stats, and that was something that Dalton and I shared together sometimes just driving back and forth to CHKD, like ‘Hey! This is what he did last night,’” said Jen.
“We all became Dodgers fans, especially Chris Taylor fans,” said Will.
Dalton passed away last year. He was the biggest Chris Tayor fan you would ever meet. Now, his family asks that you support the Driving for Hope event to give back to the organizations that helped bring light to some of their darkest days.
“They touched us so much, helped us so much, gave us memories that, you know, we can’t make anymore with Dalton, but we still have those memories to look back on,” said Jen.
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