Dr. Jill Biden, Tom Coughlin.Photo: Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty; Nicholas Hunt/Getty
Dr. Jill Bidenis a Philadelphia sports fan, having grown up in Montgomery County, Pa., rooting for the Phillies and Eagles.
But last Wednesday, she put her allegiances aside to unite withTom Coughlin, a coaching legend for the Eagles' bitter rival, the New York Giants, to help stage a virtual trivia contest for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
“When your family is facing cancer, it can feel like there’s no time for fun,” Biden told the families. “But laughter and joy — these aren’t things we can put off in tough times. They’re what get usthroughthe tough times. They matter.”
Dr. Jill Biden with Tom Coughlin (top left) and Dan Reynolds (second from top left).The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
Answer: “It’s Time,” which was released in 2012 and reached number 15 on the Billboard hot 100.
Last week’s event wasn’t the first time Biden, Coughlin and Imagine Dragons joined forces to combat childhood cancer. In 2018, they teamed with now-PresidentJoe Bidento film a public service announcement about fighting the disease.Joe Biden’s son Beauwas 46 when he died of brain cancer in 2015.
According to the CDC, approximately 15,000 people under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer each year, or about 43 a day.
Tom Coughlin.
The Jay Fund is named after Jay McGillis, a former Boston College football player when Coughlin was the coach there, who died of leukemia at age 21. Imagine Dragons launched the Tyler Robinson Foundation to combat childhood cancer when its namesake died of cancer in 2013 at 17.
Dan Reynolds.
For these families, the COVID pandemic exacerbated an already-difficult situation: The slowdown in the economy resulted in layoffs and furloughs. Families already pressed for time had to help their children with distance learning. Cancer patients often have compromised immune systems, which made going into an office a nonstarter for many parents.
“When you tell a family their child has cancer, their world is turned upside-down,” Coughlin told PEOPLE in 2018. “The child knows the parents are stressed — he just senses it. So the idea is that the parents are not alone and you’re helping them — it might be mortgage payments, utilities, food, car payments. Once the parents know there’s someone that will help them, they can then relax and let the child know that what’s important is for them to beat the disease. That’s the role we play.”
source: people.com
