Davenport School Rallies To Help Classmate With Leukemia

Tonight is the first basketball game of the season for Williams Intermediate School. Williams 7th grade will take on Sudlow at 4:30 at Williams, while the 8th grade will be playing against Sudlow at Sudlow. Tonight isn’t just special because it’s the first game, but tonight also marks the kickoff of a big fight at Williams — not the kind you might have read about at Williams in the past, but a fight against cancer.

Seventh grade Williams student, Elijah Richards, was diagnosed with Leukemia just a few months ago and has been unable to attend school and has been in Iowa City getting treatment. Students and staff at Williams have been rallying to help raise funds for Elijah’s treatment. Students have been bringing in change and collecting it by grade level to raise money, there were t-shirts being sold to raise money and later this month, there will be a Dance Marathon party as well.

Tonight, instead of wearing their normal jerseys, Williams 7th and 8th grade boys basketball players will be wearing T-shirts in honor of Elijah that say, “I got your back.”

If you’re interested in attending the game, doors open at 4 pm and the cost is $2 for adults and $1 for students. You can order a shirt and donate at the game tonight. 100% proceeds from the shirt will go to Elijah's family.