Gopher A Cure Challenge   When the Gophers hit the net, you can take a shot at childhood cancer.

Be a part of the teat at the University of Minnesota with a winning record in the fight against childhood cancer.

The Gopher A Cure Challenge gives you an opportunity to make a pledge donation for every 3-point shot made by the men or women's basketball teams, or every goal made by the men or women's hockey teams this season.

Your donation will help Children's Cancer Research Fund support cutting-edge pediatric cancer research at the U of M.

Under the leadership of coaches Tubby Smith, Pam Borton, Don Lucia and Brad Frost, your Golden Gophers look to put big numbers up on the scoreboard this season. The more they tally, the closer we can come to finding cures for kids with cancer.

Join the winning team!

To make a tax-deductible pledge or one-time donation, click on the appropriate link below. At the end of the season (including tournaments and post-season play), Children's Cancer Research Fund will calculate your pledge donation based on the number of 3-pointers and goals the Golden Gophers scored and send you a statement.

Josh beat one tough opponent - brain cancer.

Hearing the words “brain cancer” and your child’s name in the same sentence is not something a parent wants to hear. But that was the harrowing reality for Lisa and Jim of Ham Lake, Minn. Their sweet-natured toddler, Josh had brain cancer.

Doctors at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview successfully removed Josh’s tumor, but surgery alone would not cure him. Josh’s best chance for survival was to enroll in a clinical trial supported by Children’s Cancer Research Fund.

The experimental treatment included a combination of powerful chemotherapy drugs that were extremely toxic to the immune system. To counteract this, physicians added a stem cell rescue: they extracted stem cells from Josh’s blood, froze them, and then infused them back into Josh’s blood stream. Josh’s own stem cells were used to restore his immune system.

It worked. Josh is now “cancer-free” and Lisa and Jim certainly like the sound of those words. “We needed to fight for Josh’s life and we needed a team with that same determination. We got that in the U of M and Children’s Cancer Research Fund.”

Today, Josh is a healthy, outgoing 4th grader who loves sports and video games.