Published: Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 11:42 p.m. MST
PROVO ? Coach Dave Rose and his wife Cheryl have been anxiously involved with the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation (CCCF) since he first came to BYU as an assistant coach. It wasn't until 2009, when Rose faced his own battle with pancreatic cancer, that the event became intimately more relatable to each of them, however.
The CCCF is now in its 15th year and has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings when several people banded together with the idea to do what they could for not only children afflicted with cancer but for their families. The foundation currently holds a two-night event that involves dinner, presents, Santa Claus, Cosmo and the BYU basketball team among other things.
"The BYU players and the coaches ? they're sort of the highlight for these kids and their family," said foundation founder and cancer survivor Mac Boyter. "It's a great blessing to have them involved."
BYU basketball's involvement came about almost immediately after the idea of the CCCF was first hatched. Then BYU coach Steve Cleveland came to know about the foundation because of his involvement with Coaches versus Cancer.
Boyter said Cleveland and his wife just showed up along with then-assistant coach Rose and his wife to ask what they could do. What they immediately were able to do was to move the event to a bigger facility ? the Cougar Room at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It wasn't before long, however, that even the Cougar Room proved to be too small, leading to them expanding it into a two-night event held at the gymnasium housed by the Vivint building in North Provo.
While Rose was fully committed to the foundation and its mission, it was Cheryl who put in most of the work. Boyter, seeing her dedication to their mission, soon invited her to become a member of the foundation, which she readily accepted.
"She has been absolutely fantastic," said Boyter. "She's given her whole body and soul to it, so frankly, where we are today and how we've grown ? a lot of it is her fault."
"I just show up and talk about everything she does, but she's the one doing everything," added Rose. "That's kind of how it works."
Several years after Cheryl became a foundation member, it was learned that her husband had been diagnosed with cancer. Rose said his own experience in dealing with first the diagnosis and then the treatment, and how it affected not only himself but his family, gave him a new perspective.
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