Harrisburg Senators shave heads to support pediatric cancer patients in Hershey

Saturday night's Eastern League game on City Island ended the same way most Harrisburg Senators games have lately, with the Washington Nationals' Double-A affiliate on the losing end of things.

The 8-4 final margin showing on Metro Bank Park's scoreboard really didn't tell the whole story, though, as Sens' players, staffers, fans and even members of the visiting Trenton Thunder made sure the night's ultimate outcome had nothing to do with baseball.

As part of the Senators Vs. Cancer campaign, more than 10 Harrisburg players shaved their heads on the field to support the fight against pediatric cancer, and the event raised more than $10,000, with half of that money going to Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

Harrisburg relief pitcher Colin Bates was a college teammate of Chase Jones at the University of North Carolina. During their freshman year, Jones was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer, and although he beat the disease, he became committed to helping with the fight against it.

"Since he was 18 at the time, he went through his cancer treatments on the pediatric side of the hospital," Bates said, "so he was taking all his treatments next to the kids, ages 5, 6, 10 and 12. Seeing them have to go through it really bugged him. He wanted to do whatever he could to help."

Jones, who founded the Vs. Cancer Foundation in 2012, said he was blown away by what Bates and fellow Sens' players did to help make Saturday's event so successful. His experience as a cancer patient at UNC shaped his feelings on why it was so important to get involved.

"I watched kids right beside me take the same treatment as I did, the same chemo and same radiation," Jones said. "Thankfully, I beat it, but after going through it and seeing some of those kids – including a close friend of mine pass – it was an eye-opening experience that told me we had to do something as a team.

"I couldn't comprehend why I was sitting alive and kicking in the dugout and some of the kids we walked with and visited with weren't alive anymore. From that moment it was like, 'Let's shave our heads. We'll look like idiots, but our fans will donate money,' and from that idea Vs. Cancer was born."

Harrisburg pitchers Bates, John Simms, Neil Holland, Robert Benincasa, Derek Self, Tyler Herron, Zach Kroenke, Scott McGregor and Brian Dupra plus catcher Mitch Canham and others sought out pledges from family, friends and fans in support of the head-shaving effort. Trenton designated hitter Rob Segedin and other members of the Thunder had their heads shaved, too.

"Simms raised like $2,400," Bates said. "Mitch Canham raised $1,800. I raised $600 and felt like I was bugging everybody with my Facebook and Twitter posts about it, but it feels great to help do what we can."

Holland said Harrisburg's current 10-game losing streak and 2-17 stretch over the last 19 games really doesn't seem so bad considering what Jones and other cancer patients have had to face.

"We were literally talking about that in the bullpen tonight," Holland said. "Not only has the season been rough – and those seasons happen in baseball – but this last month has been especially difficult.

"We were talking, though, about how perfectly this all came together at the end of a season like this. It helps us remember there's more to life than baseball. A bad season is horrible, but it could always be worse, like what Chase had to go through with his brain cancer."

Added Bates: "Big picture, baseball is just a blip on the radar. By doing this, we're stepping outside the bubble we live in every day coming to the park. We have to realize how fortunate we are to have the gifts we do, what God has given us. Hopefully, we've been able to hammer it home to the guys and they're giving back."

The most important part of that, Jones said, is the local component, which will impact kids in need in Hershey.

"As vital as the research is to fund the next cure, so is funding the treatment of the next child who is going to be diagnosed today," Jones said. "How do we do that? We went to the children's hospitals and asked how we could help. It led to this half-and-half model, where every event we have, half the proceeds go to national funds for research and the other half go to local children's hospitals.

"Right now at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, we're funding their music therapy program, so when kids are going through treatment and have to be locked up in chemo for six hours, they've got musical instruments they can play with to help divert their minds from what's going on. It's something tangible that can help change the outcome for so many kids."

CONTACT: dsottile@pennlive.com
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