UPCOMING FUNDRAISER
KYLE — Living with cancer can take an emotional toll on someone and the mountain of medical bills can feel never-ending. For one local family, the community is hoping to relieve some of the financial burden.
The STAC Athletics Youth Center, located at 5 Brent Blvd. Ste. 110 in Kyle, is hosting a fundraiser from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19, to support Lehman High School Head Golf Coach Kent Smith’s wife, Cynthia Rojas-Smith, who has been battling colon cancer since 2019.
Cynthia was diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2019 and within a month of hearing the news, she had surgery to remove the tumor along with a bowel resection and a chemo port installed when the lymph nodes and a PET scan showed the cancer also affected her liver. Within the last few years, she has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
However, the cancer has continued to progress and the family is running out of treatment options.
“We haven’t been able to stop [the disease],” Kent said. “We were able to slow it down a couple of times but it’s continued, unfortunately … We have exhausted the [conventional treatments] and now we are on to the clinical trials to hope and pray that something works. We have had a lot of setbacks.”
The community has banded together to support the family not only through the STAC fundraiser but also by donating to the GoFundMe that was created in 2019. Of the $10,000 goal, $9,903 has been raised as of Monday, Feb. 13.
Hays CISD has also spread awareness through its social media pages as Kent is a beloved coach and teacher.
“This fundraiser means a lot to me because coach Smith took a chance on me before seeing me play and gave me a spot on the team,” said student Lukas Champion. “As for my team, he has sacrificed so much of his time to help us become not only better players, but better young adults as well.”
Hays City Store, Legends Boxing of South Austin, Plum Creek Golf Course, Putt Pub, HotWorx, Country Life Wine & Spirits and Stretch Lab of Kyle have donated gifts and memberships/services for the raffle at the fundraiser. Texas Crab Company and Kona Ice will be at the event for food/drinks and will be donating a portion of their profits to the cause.
“As a resident of Kyle for over 10 years and wife and mother of two small children myself, I feel for Cynthia,” said Staci Ortiz of STAC. “Kyle is a growing community but still small at heart.
Local support is powerful. STAC is happy to host this fundraiser with the help of donations from local businesses and the attendance of our Hays County community. Our hearts and prayers go out to this beautiful community.”
Kent emphasized the importance of visiting the doctor regularly to ensure good health, especially when there are warning signs that something may be wrong. Previous research said that the majority of people who were diagnosed with colon cancer were 50 to 60 years old but now, the age has gotten younger as Cynthia was first diagnosed in her 30s.
“[My wife] is a very strong person and sometimes when you are a strong person, you tend to ignore warning signs. She is very selfless. She thinks of everyone else all of the time and because of it, I think she kind of ignored some things. If you think there is something wrong, you need to get checked,” Kent said.
signs because if someone as strong as my wife can end up going through this, there’s no telling.”
