American-born Nigerian basketball star, Victor Oladipo, has donated $15,000 (around N3 million) towards breast cancer research at the Indian University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Centre.
The Orlando Magic star, who played for Indiana University’s basketball team before making the jump to the NBA, made the donation on Monday while visiting patients in the
centre.
The money was a portion of his winnings from the slam dunk contest and a social media fundraiser at the NBA’s All-Star weekend in February. He finished second in the slam dunk contest.
The 23-year-old crafted the idea of donating any winnings that he received from the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest to three different cancer research centres prior to the NBA All-Star Weekend, joining forces with ‘Dunk Cancer’, a social media fundraiser created to help bring awareness about the need for funding in the search for a cure for the deadly disease.
Oladipo not only shocked the basketball world with his jaw-dropping 540-degree dunk, but he took home $50,000 in prize money – funds that will be set aside in the fight against cancer.
“That’s what it’s all about – changing the world,” Oladipo said. “I was blessed and fortunate to be in the position that I am and blessed and fortunate to do something like this, so why not take full advantage of it? I want to try and save lives and this is the least I can do. It’s all about helping people and that’s one of the reasons that God put me on this Earth. So I want to take every opportunity to maximise my opportunities to help people.”
In addition to Indiana University’s Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Centre, Oladipo will make donations to the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, in Orlando, and the Washington-based Children National Medical Centre. The facilities were picked because Oladipo was born in Washington, D.C., attended college at Indian University and became an NBA player with the Orlando-based Magic.
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