Rutgers Basketball Honors 100 Cancer Survivors on Court

When the lights dim at Jersey Mike's Arena this Sunday, 100 cancer survivors will walk onto the court in lines marking the years they've fought for their lives. Fans will raise glowing cell phones while the Rutgers women's basketball team watches from the sidelines, pink accessories added to their white uniforms in tribute.

The Play4Kay game honors Kay Yow, the legendary North Carolina State coach who battled breast cancer for over 20 years while winning more than 700 games. She led Team USA to Olympic gold in 1988 and never stopped coaching until weeks before her death in 2009, living by her famous words: "When life kicks you, let it kick you forward."

Rutgers senior guard Kaylah Ivey earned the honor of being named a Kay Yow Servant Leader, one of only 65 college basketball players nationwide wearing the special patch this season. She's dedicating the game to her great aunt Dawn Johnson, who died of breast cancer when Ivey was young.

"The message to my team is that we're playing for something much bigger than ourselves," Ivey said. "It's about showing up and fighting, just like those who had to fight much bigger battles than we're about to fight."

Rachel Botnick will join the line of ten-year survivors for the first time Sunday. She attended her first Play4Kay game in February 2016 while undergoing chemotherapy, completely bald and scared, but she's missed only one game since.

"Ten years cancer free is a very large deal for anybody," said Botnick, an East Brunswick special education teacher raising twin teenage daughters. "When you battle something that really strips your dignity, to be spotlighted like that is really special."

Why This Inspires

This event transforms a basketball game into something healing. Heidi Rone, a South Brunswick mom of triplets and breast cancer survivor since 2007, will attend with four fellow cancer warriors who met through their kids' Boy Scout troop.

In December, Ivey visited cancer patients at RWJBarnabas Health and met a woman who achieved remission after a decade-long battle. "It gave me the strength to continue to push through whatever I'm going through because I watched that lady push through everything she's going through," Ivey recalled.

The game raises money for underserved female cancer patients in New Jersey while giving survivors a moment to celebrate their courage. Waving pink pompoms, they'll walk a pink carpet into the arena as thousands cheer their strength.

Sunday's scoreboard will show more than basketball points—it will display years of survival, courage, and the power of showing up for each other.