Local hospital buys close to 600 bracelets to benefit deputy with cancer
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REXBURG— You may have seen them around town: blue bracelets with the hashtag #NobodyFightsAlone. They’re being given by Madison County Sheriff’s Office with a requested donation of $5 for a deputy battling cancer. Now, Madison Memorial Hospital wanted to show its support by buying hundreds.
“Things add up when you’re fighting cancer,” Madison County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Isaac Payne says.
Wednesday the Madison County Sheriff’s Office held an event to present the hospital with 575 bracelets for Deputy Russell Chun.
Payne says originally ER nurses approached the sheriff’s office to make a donation and receive some bracelets. But, when the hospital’s CEO Rachel Gonzales caught wind of the fundraiser, the orders poured in.
“The hospital CEO saw them and she said, ‘We need them for everybody,'” Payne says. “They made a good donation to Russel’s charity fund.”
Payne says the hospital has been very supportive of the sheriff’s office as they’ve gone through many medical trials this year. The bracelet-fundraising campaigns began when Payne was diagnosed with cancer. Officers ordered bracelets that read #InYourCorner when they heard he was diagnosed with colon cancer in October.
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But, as Payne wraps up his therapy, he is requesting fundraising efforts be funneled to Chun.
“It’s been a pretty successful fundraiser,” Payne says of the fundraiser that started a couple of months ago.
“He (Chun) really wanted me to tell everybody community-wide, thank you for their support ,” Payne says. “The sheriff was very touched by the support the hospital’s been giving.”
The fundraiser is ongoing and members of the public can buy a bracelet or make a donation at the Madison County Sheriff’s Office or Beehive Federal Credit Union in Rexburg, where a charity account has been set up for Chun.