When the Ithaca College field hockey team started its season this fall, the players had a new teammate cheering them on. The Bombers “adopted” Nora Zelko, a three-year-old child battling cancer.

Nora and the team were paired through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization that connects children with pediatric cancer with high school and collegiate sports teams so that the teams can provide the children with love, support, and friendship. Nora has stage four neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer commonly found in the adrenal glands.

The team personalized a locker for Nora and equipped it with a field hockey stick signed by the team and a backpack for her first year of preschool. They took her out onto the field after games and sent her messages of support when she had medical appointments. 

“Before every game, we always write a little saying on our arm,” said Kendall Keil ’20. “The word is something to motivate the team for the game. We wrote strong, and our reasoning was if Nora can fight neuroblastoma, we can fight through this game. We can push ourselves to our limits.”