Christmas carols filled the Phillips Center Auditorium as the Holiday Traditions Celebration got underway. But then the real stars of the evening shuffled onstage carrying the main attraction...a check for more than a million dollars to the Cancer Research Division at UF.
Towanda Evans Pruitt's son, Cincere, was diagnosed with cancer in May.
"It will help us and others with the different tasks that come with taking care of a child who has cancer," she says.
The money donated by Stop Children's Cancer and also proceeds from the silent auction will go towards making sure that children like Cincere who are going through clinical trials can do so safely. Dr. Bill Slayton is Cincere's doctor and administers the clinical trials.
"We all work together," he says, "to try to make things better for these kids, and here they're also participating in that and that's pretty amazing."
Dr. Slayton's trials help doctors understand what medication to give kids and how to administer doses.
"It's thrilling to be up on the stage...these are all children who are going through their therapy now, so it's an opportunity for them to be in the spotlight and feel kind of normal," he says, smiling.
And when asked if he enjoyed helping present the check on stage, in front of all those people, Cincere's face lit up. Just like the doctor helping him beat the disease.