A group of Oregon student-athletes met at the Casanova Center on a crisp May afternoon, their spirits high and health intact.
Just days before, Davie Untz sat in Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital in Portland, receiving chemotherapy to treat a rare form of leukemia.
It’s Philadelphia Chromosome Positive, and it rarely strikes children. But Untz, 3 1/2 years old, is stricken with the cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant.
Knowing this, Lauren Westendorf, an Oregon volleyball player, has banded together with a group of student-athletes in hopes of helping him. She’s got a tag team roster of Oregon basketball players, stretching from Aaron Brooks to Chelsea Wagner, Jordan Kent to Carolyn Ganes, who are willing to help raise money by playing in a wheelchair basketball game today at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court.
It’s called Rollin’ for a Remedy. This is the second year, and the second chance for event founder Westendorf and other athletes to raise money for those needing medical care.
It just turns out that Untz is in extra special need of care this year.
“Initially, it started out as an extra project and something that would be fun for the athletes,” said Westendorf, who is also co-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “Now it’s something that allows the athletes to give back to the community that gives so much to them.”
Davie Untz is a Eugene resident. His mother, Lynn, is a single mom who adopted him just a few days after he was born in Guatemala. She brought him to Eugene four months later, where he has been living ever since.
When Davie was diagnosed, he and Lynn were in Virginia visiting her mother. He was taken to a hospital in Norfolk, and eventually Davie was found to have the rare form of leukemia.
A little while later, the two got more involved with Oregon athletics. They’ve been to football practices and other Oregon Athletic Department functions.
“It was nice to really have the contacts with the athletes,” Lynn said. “It’s been great for him. He’s kind of attached to a few of them by look or name, especially if they’ve had some contact with him.”
And now, Davie is the guest of honor at the charity game. To help support Davie’s cause, the event’s charge is $3 for adults and $2 for students with identification, while children 10 and younger are free.
Davie may not be able to attend, but Lynn said there may be a “window” when he can visit.
“Just for them to be able to take us on and help us out was very comforting,” she said.

A dangerous experience
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood that affects the bone marrow. It occurs when white cells are produced but do not mature fully. The cells then begin to reproduce, even if there is no space for them.
Leukemia is the most common form of cancer, with 2,700 children affected each year, according to Doernbecher’s Web site, http://www.ohsuhealth.com. However, Davie’s form of the cancer is less common.
Philadelphia Chromosome Positive was discovered in 1960, but it wasn’t until 1973 that scientists could decipher the exact cause of the cancer. It is caused by the translocation, or exchange, of chromosomes 9 and 22.
The chromosome, according to “The American Heritage College Dictionary,” is “a circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.” The translocation of chromosomes 9 and 22 creates an abnormal gene. This gene prohibits normal cell growth, giving way to leukemia.
After chemotherapy, the only way to ensure full health for Davie is a bone marrow transplant, which “involves taking cells that are normally found in the bone marrow (stem cells), filtering those cells, and giving them back either to the patient they were taken from or to another person,” according to the Doernbecher site.
Lynn said their biggest hope right now is to keep Davie in “temporary remission” so that a transplant can be performed next month.

Helping out Davie
Ian Jaquiss knows something about wheelchair basketball. He plays for the Portland Wheelblazers, a group that competed against the Ducks in last year’s charity game.
He won’t be at McArthur Court this year — the Wheelblazers will be in British Columbia — but said he will miss the experience and plans to return for next year’s game. In his team’s place will be the Eugene Express, a member of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association that also participated in last year’s game.
“Last year was a lot of fun,” Jaquiss said. “To just raise money for a good cause is awesome. (The game) lets wheelchair basketball players who are fairly accomplished compete against able-bodied basketball players who are fairly accomplished.”
Westendorf and the athletes involved are all looking forward to having a good time on the floor.
Jaquiss said he was surprised last year at how quickly some of the athletes picked up the motion of having to roll themselves down the floor. After all, they can’t use motorized chairs; it’s all manual.
Finding enough players to play was a difficult task as well. Like many tournaments that are just starting out, Westendorf had a hard time getting it off the ground.
“Initially, actually, we had a hard time getting players to do it (last year),” Westendorf said. “But once a couple days came around, they were all asking me. Even Luke (Jackson), day of, was like ‘Lauren, I want to do it, I want to do it.’ He was the most fun because he flipped over in his chair; it was hysterical. After last year, they were all asking me to do it again. They loved it. They had a great time.”
And tonight, they’ll do it again, all for charity.
Because they can.