Support from complete strangers

By Kristi Lambert

At full speed, the 160-pound frame of South Summit High School junior Porter Hancock sprinted across the playing field to block an opposing player. At the same moment, another player was rushing in for the same hit.

Hancock’s helmet jarred to the left.

He did not get up.

On Nov. 26, an auction, raffle and fundraiser was held at Logan High School to raise money for Hancock, who suffered a severe spinal injury in the accident and is now paralyzed from the chest down.

It was just one more show of support— but from complete strangers.

“I think it was amazing. People would spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on him and they didn’t even know him,” said Bryanne Hancock, Porter’s older sister.

In an effort to bring in more money and participation, the “Fight for Feeling” fundraiser was held at the same time as the annual Novemberfest. Porter Hancock’s cousin, Cameron Brown spearheaded the event in hopes to raise more money than the first auction held in Hancock’s hometown Oakley, Utah.

“We were thinking if we could do the same amount of volume, but bigger it would help,” Brown said.

He estimated that about 1200 to 1800 people came to LHS to bid, buy and donate. Some of the big ticket items in the auction included: a treadmill from Icon Health and Fitness, a Green Bay Packers helmet signed by the entire team, Hillary Duff’s Jimmy Choos, Steve Young’s super bowl helmet and diamond earrings priced at $1,600. The largest bid was $2,500 for the Hoopes Lasik Eye Surgery, a package valued at $4,700.

Cache Valley Electric and Vivint were the biggest contributors. Brown, who is an employee of Vivint, said that it was because of Vivint that they were able to reach out to so many resources and obtain a substantial amount of money to aid in the fundraising efforts.

Many of the donations and sports memorabilia would not have been contributed if it were not for the generosity of many of the college football coaches in the state. Utah State University’s football coach, Garry Anderson, helped organizers get in touch with Hillary Duff, the New York Jets and other NFL teams. Aaron Alford from the University of Utah also helped with obtaining signed footballs from various NFL teams.

“Coach Garry Anderson helped a ton,” Brown said. “His family helped out as much as anybody. On Saturday, he literally called two hours after the Nevada game to see how the fundraiser went. He was super supportive.”

Despite only six weeks to plan the event, Brown was pleasantly surprised by the items obtained and the numerous people that came to show their support.

“It was a huge success,” Brown said. “It was pretty amazing to see how many people are really willing to help out. The most surprising was coach Garry Anderson and all of the USU players. It was pretty crazy to see how involved they got with it considering how busy they were this time of year with the football season.”

It was estimated that $35,000 to $40,000 dollars was raised for Hancock and his family; $25,000 of that was cash donation.

“The money we raised will go toward paying for the house they built that is wheelchair accessible…Or they’ll use the money where it is needed,” Brown said. “My aunt is a single mom with four kids. More than anything we were just wanting to help out and do our part to help them get a bit of money.”

The Hancock family was overwhelmed with gratitude.

“My mom was crying because of how many people came to support us. People who know us and people who don’t,” Bryanne Hancock said. “There’s no way to describe how thankful we are with everything that has been done.”

If everything goes well, Porter Hancock should be done with physical therapy and home by Dec. 13.

“He’s doing a lot better and we’re just taking everything day by day,” Bryanne Hancock said.

Donations can be taken to and made payable to Zion’s Bank, Porter Hancock Donation Account. They can also be mailed to the The Hancock Family, attn: Cheryl W. Brown, 1633 E 1700 N, Logan, UT 84341.

(D. Van Dyke)