Football, community service collide in Candlelighters event

Junior Nicholas Vogeley and senior Kate Bomar organized a tailgate for Candlelighter families before the football game.

Marisa Murillo

Junior Nicholas Vogeley and senior Kate Bomar organized a tailgate for Candlelighter families before the football game.

Sophia Li, Staff Writer
September 17, 2014

Mavericks were not the only ones wearing red and black and crowding the stands of the football game on Friday, Sept. 12. Families of children with cancer, also known as Candlelighter families, watched the game from the 40-yard line after participating in a tailgate organized by junior Nicholas Vogeley and senior Kate Bomar.

Vogeley’s experiences inspired him to organize the event for families of the Childhood Cancer Alliance. One of his middle school friends passed away from brain cancer in 2013.

“I had known adults with cancer, but not peers,” Vogeley said. “I wanted to offer a get-your-mind-off-cancer family event to children while incorporating my favorite pastime, Maverick football.”

Vogeley aims to provide cancer patients with a Friday Night Lights experience, Texan style.

“There is nothing like Skip Lee Field on a Friday night,” he said.

Volunteers and several JV cheerleaders arrived two hours before the game to set up.

“[Candlelighters] was a great event, and the looks on the kids’ faces made it totally worth braving the brutal heat and bad traffic,” junior Shane Zerr said.

Candlelighter adults and children, including teenager Tabitha Morales, participated in activities such as fishing-themed games.

As an infant, Tabitha’s parents discovered bruises of unknown origin on her skin. Concerned, they took her to the hospital where doctors, after performing a series of diagnostic tests, discovered a brain tumor.

“I was so weak, [the doctors] weren’t sure if I was going to be able to walk or dance,” Tabitha said.

Before the football game, students hosted activites booths for children of Candlelighter families. (Marisa Murillo)
Before the football game, students hosted activites booths for children of Candlelighter families. (Marisa Murillo)

Tabitha underwent numerous full-body MRI scans while doctors frantically searched for the best form of treatment.

After multiple surgeries, the doctors successfully removed the tumor, and Morales has been in remission ever since.

“I am healthy now,” Morales said. “I can run and do anything.”

During halftime, Morales and the other Candlelighter children helped hold the run-through banner for the stampede of football players coming back out of the locker room.

“This was the best night of my life,” Tabitha said.