John Galas, head coach and co-founder of Lane United FC had a lump in his right adductor and thought it was just an overuse injury and at worst, a benign cyst but it was growing. His wife, Anna Galas the C-Path Grants Manager was familiar with these stories and “inspired” John to see his primary care physician.

The Galas lads, John and his brother Dave, are the co-founders of Lane United and spent some time during their childhood in Europe, where they became fans of Liverpool, Nottingham Forest (who were European Champions back then) and St Etienne from France. You can see the obvious connection to Forest when you look at the Lane United badge; “we got shit for it” John told us in a recent interview. He was on the phone with a friend from the UK when he got the call - John then texted his brother immediately, “its cancer.”

It was determined that John had a rare type of cancer for adults, Synovial Sarcoma, and he checked into the Knight Cancer Center at OHSU - his good health allowed them to pursue an aggressive fight, “from December 11th to April 23rd, first infusion to the last infusion, I went through 5 bouts of infusions, 2 chemo drugs, 8 bouts of radiation, and surgery to remove the tumor. It was 90% necrotic, and he was thinking about soccer 100% of the time. “I kept thinking, when can I be done with this - May couldn’t come fast enough.”

During his fight, Hummel, who has been partnered with Lane United for a few years, heard of what he was going through and reached out. They asked Dave if it would be appropriate to come up with an United Against Cancer kit. The brothers were blown away by the gesture and decided that not only would they wear that with pride, they would find appropriate partners to leverage the shirt against Synovial Sarcoma.

Yesterday, the club announced their partnership with Critical Path Institute and xCures to host an exhibition United Against Cancer game on May 16th at Civic Park in Eugene, Oregon. Players from Lane United will wear special kits designed by Hummel and proceeds from the match will support the non-profit CURE Drug Repurposing Collaboratory (CDRC) in the fight against cancer.

“C-Path’s CDRC is working on multiple projects with the aim to better understand the current treatments being used for rare and ultra-rare sarcomas.” Lane United will kick off Sarcoma Awareness Month in July by recognizing the sponsor’s efforts and present a donation of ALL proceeds of the campaign to the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation at halftime of the USL League Two LUFC vs Capital FC game in Eugene. You can help in the fight against cancer by attending their exhibition game against Deportivo Rose City, who were gracious enough to agree to come down from Portland during a break in their UPSL season.

Catch that game at Civic Park, in Eugene, Oregon on May 16th and you can purchase this Hummel collaboration in person or online beginning that day. For more information regarding Critical Path Institute, please click HERE

- by Joshua Duder