Woman fighting lung cancer gets $15K surprise at Gifford’s Race for a Cure
GIFFORD, Ill. (WCIA) — This weekend’s barrel race at Gordyville USA slowed down to help someone in need. Race for a Cure brought the community together to compete against a common foe: cancer.
The entire race weekend was dedicated to one woman. People bought T-shirts and more to help support cancer patient Tori White. “Runnin’ 4 Tori” was a common phrase at the race.
The best part? White didn’t even know.
“I knew that it was the cancer benefit race, but I didn’t know it was me,” White said.
White was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer in November.
“I’d seen her two weeks ago, a month ago, at a horse show,” said Charles Bayne Holcomb, the race’s co-founder. “And when we left her, I told Leslie, my wife, ‘We need to do this for Tori.'”
He said all proceeds the weekend, including T-shirts, entry fees, stall rentals, and the auction, go toward White.
“We’re going to hand Tori a check for $15,000. She doesn’t know it yet,” Holcomb said.
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They surprised her with the check Saturday afternoon. Race co-founder and Charles’s wife, Leslie, said they want to come together as a community to help.
“That’s what we want to do, is help with that, relieve that stress,” she said. “We don’t want them to have nothing. You have to be able to pay the electric bill. You have to buy groceries, you know. So, that’s the kind of things that we do.”
White was shocked and emotional upon learning she was this year’s recipient.
“Well, I came walking in and I didn’t have my glasses on. Somebody pointed at the banners like, ‘Oh, those are pretty.’ They kept pointing up and I saw my name on it,” White said.
The event showcased friends helping friends and community, always, over cancer.
“The barrel race is a family. I feel like we all compete against each other on the weekends, but when hands are down, they rally,” White said.
$15,000 is just the base donation. The expectation is to have more to give White after the weekend. This weekend will also help jumpstart next year’s Race for a Cure recipient.
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