Riley Hopes To 'Crack Cancer' With Viral Challenge

Riley Children’s Health is using a social media challenge to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research. The Crack Cancer challenge involves cracking eggs on someone’s head and sharing the video.

Doug Boles, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway president, says one of the neatest things about social media is its ability to raise awareness for causes.

“We really felt like it was important that if we’re going to do this, let’s bring some of these kids in that are battling this and their families and the doctors,” Boles says. “We have some of the best hospitals in Indianapolis, especially Riley Children’s Hospital. I’ve got a son that’s a Riley kid. They do great things for families and for kids.”

Alex Lion, DO, a pediatric hematologist oncologist, works with children with different kinds of cancers, mostly those who have brain cancers.

Lion says when it comes to brain cancer, there are three areas of research this event can bring attention to.

One is research into long-term solutions, such as new medicines that have less side effects than chemotherapy. There is also research happening that looks into supporting patients in treatment in ways such as integrating one’s spiritual values into their care.

“We know that about 10% of our patients have cancer predisposition syndromes,” Lion says. “We’re looking at ways of building an effort to take care of the family to discover in which patients do we need to do more testing in their family so that we can help them detect cancer early.”

Boles was challenged by Chip Wile, president of Daytona International Speedway. Boles passed on the challenge to Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud and recent Brick 400 winner Brad Keselowski.