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Foundations a fount of aid
Kansas City Star, MO - Apr 8, 2007
Allyson Woodbury is one tough young lady.

Four years ago, Allyson was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer. She has faced surgery to cut out the cancerous bone in her leg, replacing it with cadaver bone. She’s gone through chemotherapy twice. Now the cancer has returned and metastasized in her spine and brain.

It’s been a difficult road for Woodbury, 18 — who is now in hospice care — and her parents, Tom and Pat Woodbury. But thanks to the efforts of the Tony Gonzalez Foundation, she has had one little friend who has been by her side since the beginning — her Shadow Buddy. Shadow Buddies are small dolls given to children going through illnesses, as well as to senior citizens.

“It helped me understand what was going to happen to me,” said Woodbury, who has three Shadow Buddies, including a Tony Gonzalez doll. “It’s so nice to have the doll to explain to other people what I have.”

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is one of a number of current and former area professional athletes who have established foundations. One of the area’s oldest and best-known organizations is the Derrick Thomas/Neil Smith Third and Long Foundation, started in 1990 to tackle illiteracy among inner-city schoolchildren.

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 07:05:27 GMT

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