Cancer sucks, we all know that. And when a teenager gets diagnosed with some form of it, it sucks by about a trillion percent because, quite frankly, it’s something that no one his or her age should have to deal with.
Unfortunately, cancer struck high school athlete Jared Anderson, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease, which led to a remarkable story of giving back to his high school, even as he was set to graduate.
When approached by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Jared didn’t hope for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, but a new gym that he could provide future athletes at Firth High School in his small, 477-person town of the same name.
As BodyBuilding.com describes it:
Like countless similar facilities nationwide, the weight room in this 230-student small-town school was created with what was available, not what was ideal. The space was a former typing lab from the days of electric typewriters. The squat rack and dip station were fabricated in shop class. The weights themselves had been covered in rust since before the current crop of students were born. And the less said about the condition of the walls, ceiling, and floor, the better.
Ask student Jared Anderson about the room, though, and he’ll say, “It was everything to me.” He first set foot there when his brother introduced him to lifting during seventh grade. Then, he began lifting for football and baseball. He even kept lifting when, against the odds, he developed stage-three cancer as a teenager.
According to ABC8, Make-A-Wish partnered with the Lift Life Foundation to give the high school a $100,000 renovation on the weight room, making it as first-class as any in the nation. Here’s a photo of the updated facility, per BodyBuilding.com:
Not many 18-year-old kids would think so selflessly as Jared Anderson, who, thankfully, has seen his cancer in remission. Major props to the kid for giving back in a time when many others may not have done the same.
You can nominate a school to be considered for a future renovation here.