Hockey players raise $28,000 for cancer research by rollerblading from Boston to Michigan

(Image credit: iStock)

published 5 August 2020

To raise money for cancer research, Andrew Walker and Jacob Adkins traded in their ice skates for rollerblades and hit the road.

Walker and Adkins are hockey players at the University of Massachusetts Boston. They wanted to do something during the pandemic to help others, and came up with a way to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society: the roommates would rollerblade from Boston to Mason, Michigan, a nearly 900-mile journey.

Cancer has affected both of them personally, with Adkins' mother in remission after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and Walker's grandfather dying of the disease. Adkins and Walker — who dubbed themselves the Men in Blades — completed their trek in 10 days, arriving in Mason late last month. They raised $28,100, a feat they are especially proud of since donations to so many charities are down because of the pandemic.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox