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Football team shaves heads to honor cancer patient

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Contributed by: Erin Feese/YourHub.com on 9/8/2008

Amid chants of "Coach! Coach! Coach!" by the 11-year-olds from his football team, Jake Jacoby grimaced in mock dismay as his watched his hair fall to the ground.

Jacoby, along with the majority of the players on the team, shaved their heads Sept. 5 to honor 9-year-old Highlands Ranch resident AJ Oswald, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma. By pledging to shave their heads and through other fundraisers, the players raised about $7,600 for Oswald and her family.

Jacoby said he organizes community service projects for the Warriors throughout the year and decided raising money for cancer would be a good cause. When he learned that Oswald, who plays on his daughter's softball team, could not participate this season because of cancer treatment, he decided it would be more meaningful for the players to raise funds for someone right in their community.

"I try to teach them there is more to life than football, and that not everyone has the privilege of being able to play athletics," Jacoby said.

Tom and Janet Oswald, AJ's parents, said they were amazed by the demonstration of support from the team.

"There's been such a great outpouring of love and support from people we don't even know," Janet Oswald said, wiping away tears. She said they haven't decided for sure what to do with the money, but she would like to donate a portion of it to cancer research at Children's Hospital and put the rest a college fund for AJ.

Judy Erickson, mother of Alex Erickson, one of the players on the team, said the she thought what the team did was "just awesome."

She said Alex did not want to shave his head at first.

"He said, "I'm not cutting my hair! What will the girls think?'" Judy Erickson said. "But I told him, if you're worried about what you will look like, think about how the little girl felt when her hair fell out."

Jacoby said he was blown away by the amount of money the team raised.

"This an incredible group of boys," he said.

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