5th Annual Team Jack Gala raises funds for Pediatric Brain Cancer

LINCOLN - More than 750 people dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos attended the 5th Annual Team Jack Gala at Embassy Suites Saturday evening. The Gala raised money and awareness for Pediatric Cancer. "It means a lot because we're helping so many people," said 12-year-old Jack Hoffman. Jack was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago, his parents created the Team Jack Foundation in his name. According to the National Cancer Institute in 2017 an estimated 15,270 children were diagnosed with cancer and 4,600 have a brain tumor. Jack's parents said because childhood brain tumors are rare, they get limited funding. Brianna Hoffman, Jack's mom said he's doing great and still gets scans every six months. "There's still a lot of unknowns, we have scans that have been stable recently but they're still questionable, they're still watching it closely, it could grow at any time," she said. But Saturday night was focused on the future and finding a cure. "It's a huge fight, it's a rare disease that doesn't get much funding from the government or other sources, so the Team Jack Foundation is doing all they can to raise that funding," said Rex Burkhead, New England Patriots Running Back & Former Husker Football player. Burkhead has been a part of the Foundation since it started five years ago. "It's of the utmost importance for me to be a part of this cause that needs funding, that needs awareness because it's a rare disease and [I've been] a part of it with those Husker players when it all started," he said. Jack's father Andy Hoffman said the Foundation has raised nearly 5-million dollars over the past five years and they aren't planning on stopping there. He wants to bring clinical trials to Nebraska. "We became disheartened by the fact that if you have a brain tumor in Nebraska, you have to travel to Cincinnati or Boston to enroll in a clinical trial and we started asking why, why can't we have that clinical trial right here in Nebraska," he said.
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