Londyn Hoffman (left) and her brother Lincoln Hoffman hope you will contribute to the Riley Dance Marathon fundraiser. Learn more at tinyurl.com/DanceRiley. (Photo provided)
By ALEXANDER WEBSTER
alexander@readthereporter.com
According to the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, one in 264 children and adolescents is estimated to be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.
To make those odds more real, imagine looking through your high school yearbook. You graduated with a class of 800. That’s three people who will be diagnosed before the age of 20 – three people who will experience chemotherapy, surgery, intensive care and everything else that even grown adults struggle with before they can even legally have a drink.
Londyn Hoffman is one of three.
Diagnosed when she was 6 years old with Rhabdomysarcoma, Londyn would end up winning her fight with cancer after receiving life-saving surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. To remove the cancer, they had to remove her eye. That was in November 2022, and since then she’s been cancer-free. Throughout her battle with cancer, Londyn had the support of her brother Lincoln Hoffman, who was in seventh grade when his sister first got diagnosed. Now Lincoln is a junior at Westfield High School and isn’t done supporting his sister and others in similar situations.
“They’ve granted her a blessing, and it’s awesome, we really appreciate them,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln has been involved in Riley Dance Marathon, a fundraiser campaign to support families at Riley Children’s Hospital, one of the hospitals that helped Londyn during her fight.
“Every year I go and speak about one of the stories,” Lincoln said. “The past couple years I’ve helped other families with it too, knowing my experiences with Dance Marathon since a young age. I started speaking when I was in middle school and I just got better at it each year.”
The Riley Dance Marathon isn’t the only way Lincoln stays active in his community. He is a varsity baseball player at Westfield High School and a Division I commit at Wright State University.
Photo provided
“I’m really fortunate to have it,” Lincoln said. “I used to play football and did a lot of fundraising stuff through football, but now baseball is my only sport. I’ve been playing since I could remember.”
Through baseball and his life as a student-athlete, Lincoln has started a fundraiser for childhood cancer research called “Play for the Ones Who Can’t”. He worked with the Riley Center and as of Jan. 6 has raised over $5,000.
“I wanted to do something for pediatric cancer itself, and research,” Lincoln said. “I want to give back to all the kids like Londyn.”
To find out more about The Riley Dance Marathon, please visit tinyurl.com/DanceRiley, and to learn more or donate to “Play for the Ones Who Can’t” please visit give.rileykids.org/fundraiser/6866335.
