Lauren's First and Goal enlists football in the fight against pediatric brain cancer

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2012/06/laurens_first-and-goal_enlists.html FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES Mike Donnelly looks at Lauren Loose and doesn't see a fragile, chronically ill 14-year-old girl. He sees a survivor who has inspired thousands of people to help fight pediatric brain cancer at the football camp that bears her name. "Lauren is tougher than all the coaches, all the players at the camp," said Donnelly, the Muhlenberg College head football coach and a longtime friend of the Loose family, of Forks Township. That's an awful lot of toughness, for thousands of scholastic football players and college coaches will flock to Lafayette College's Metzgar Athletic Complex today for the annual Lauren' First and Goal football camp. Lauren Loose, 14, is the daughter of John and Marianne Loose and sister of Grace Loose; John has been the defensive coordinator for Lafayette football for 13 years. Lauren was born with Neurofibromatosis type I, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow along nerves. Since she was 9 months old, she has battled brain tumors and a succession of rare blood diseases, strokes and vision problems -- and fought them cheerfully. "She is a joy, an unusually happy and positive kid," Marianne Loose said. "Lauren has been accepting of what has happened. Not much shakes her up. She was diagnosed so young, she's never really known anything else." An unassuming start In 2004, the Looses started the Lauren's First and Goal charitable organization to assist other families with children in the same situation. The heart of the organization is the annual camp, which started small and has grown each year since. "I was working at the University of Michigan football camp, with 1,500 kids and 160 coaches, mostly high school coaches, and I realized I could do a camp in one day with college coaches," John Loose said. "We had been to fundraisers for pediatric cancer and I was looking for a way to give back. And with Lauren as the spark, we decided to have a camp." It started with 56 coaches and 325 athletes. Today, 275 college coaches and more than 2,000 campers will descend on Metzgar. The camp costs $30 for athletes who register in advance. Since 2004, Lauren's First and Goal has raised more than $1 million for research and support for families with affected children and has grown to offer camps in Ohio and Florida, too. The camps have attracted guest speakers such as Ohio State's two-time Heisman Trophy winner, Archie Griffin, former New York Giant star Phil Simms, and, this year, new Penn State coach Bill O'Brien.