Boilermaker fans prepare to Hammer Down Cancer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue football game Saturday (Oct. 14) against Ohio State University is a major event in the 2023-24 Hammer Down Cancer Game series in support of the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research. One game in each of several Purdue sports will invite fans to support the cancer institute.

The cancer institute is one of only seven National Cancer Institute basic research centers in the nation. Its core mission is cancer-fighting discovery that changes lives.

Over 120 researchers from more than 20 disciplines across campus work with the institute to fight cancer. Their work is getting results. The institute’s scientists currently are developing 26 immunotherapies and 37 drugs, including 11 in human clinical trials. Technology stemming from the center’s research has generated 14 startup companies within the past five years. 

With the help of generous donors, Purdue is truly hammering down cancer.

This year’s contest against Ohio State marks five years since Purdue’s upset win against OSU in a game famous for one of the Boilermakers’ biggest fans, the late Tyler Trent. A few months after that 2018 game, Trent succumbed to a rare bone cancer. His brave battle against his disease lives on at Purdue in research to advance treatments and pursue a cure. Fans attending the game will be the first to hear about a new Purdue initiative in recognition of Trent’s legacy.

At the game or online, Boilermaker fans and friends will be able to donate to the Purdue cancer institute’s disease-fighting efforts through crowdfunding. Messages on how to give will be on the giant video board in Ross-Ade Stadium and in the digital program. Also, the cancer institute’s homepage has a “give now” link in its horizontal menu at the top.

The cancer institute’s events page lists upcoming Hammer Down Cancer games and other information, including how fans can share their game-day photos using #HammerDownCancer and tagging @PUCancerInst.

Writer: Amy Raley, araley@purdue.edu

Source: Brandt Patz, BAPatz@purdueforlife.org