Roanoke College graduate, MaDee N. Boxler is being remembered with a foundation in her name, “The Madee Project.” Various events are being planned for 2011 to raise money for the children battling cancer in Virginia.

The first event is in Salem, VA at Roanoke College on March 24th, 2011. Good friend and Maroons women's lacrosse head coach, Mary Schwartz will have a benefit Women's Lacrosse Game against Washington and Lee at 7 p.m. MaDee was a guest coach for the Women's lacrosse team in April, 2009 and stood on the sidelines with the lacrosse team during their run to the ODAC championship.

The team will also be playing in memory of Evan Nicholson, who passed in 2009 of Leukemia, and MaDee Boxler, who passed in February 2010 while battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Half of the team will be wearing orange to bring awareness to Leukemia and the other half will be wearing purple for Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

MaDee's family will be there they will have a booth set up selling apparel for the MaDee Project t-shirts, sweatshirts etc…all the money form the sale of shirts goes to there foundation. We will have two jars one for Madee and one for Evan that people can donate too. Evans is the Ulman Foundation www.ulmanfund.org and MaDee's is the MaDee project www.themadeeproject.com

Evans' Fraternity and MaDees' sorority will be there in support of the cause. Proceeds from admission, donations and sales of MaDeeWEAR apparel will benefit The MaDee Project, Inc. and the Ulman Cancer Fund on behalf of Evan Nicholson.

On October 23, 2010, in honor of MaDee Nicole Boxler's 23rd birthday, The MaDee Project, was created in memory of her contribution to this community. The MaDee Project is a non-profit foundation that provides support to pediatric cancer patients and their families in the Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County areas. The project will also nationally fund research in hopes of finding the cause and help to prevent pediatric cancers from reaching any other children.

MaDee's determination, love for her family and friends, as well as her strong spirit while battling this disease, became the inspiration for this project. MaDee served as a wonderful role model to all the children who saw her as their “big sis”. Her drive and stamina were admirable.

In March of 2008, MaDee was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, she fought her battle with the most courageous attitude and remained positive despite the re-occurrence in December 2008. She completed over 32 different chemotherapy treatments in Roanoke, University of Virginia and as an experimental trial patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Originally diagnosed as a sophomore at Roanoke College, she smiled and pressed on despite her illness, graduating in December 2009 with a double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology. She graduated after just 3 ¹₂ years of school, and even though she had to do some of her work online last semester.

While in college, Boxler worked at Roanoke's Bethany Hall as an addiction specialist as well as an adolescent counselor for dis-advantaged youth. MaDee was an avid sports fan and enjoyed assisting the men's basketball team as a manager for head coach Page Moir. She was not able to serve in that role as a junior because of her cancer treatments.

"She was a fighter," Moir said. "Until the end, she felt like she was going to beat this, and had a fantastic attitude towards it. ... You feel so bad when you see a youngster have to go through what she did, but she demonstrated an incredible amount of grace."

She received a very successful Bone Marrow Transplant in January 2010 at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill but the chemo proved to be too much for her tired body. The Lord called her home on February 16, 2010. MaDee is healed, living a life in eternity, and watching over those she loved so dearly.

The Evan Nicholson Memorial Scholarship Award was established in 2009 in memory of Evan Nicholson. Evan was a graduate of Mt Hebron High School in Ellicott City and enrolled at Roanoke College when he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007. Evan was a well rounded athlete - playing soccer and lacrosse at Mt Hebron and lacrosse at Roanoke. Anyone who met Evan was immediately drawn in by his friendly demeanure, outgoing nature, good sense of humor, and relentless optimism. Evan fought his cancer bravely, but sadly lost his battle in September of 2008. The Nicholson family wishes to recognize a Howard County resident who has battled cancer or has shown selflessness in supporting a parent or sibling through their cancer experience. This award seeks to honor the applicant who best demonstrates moral courage and the strength and vision to perservere; not only in the face of cancer, but also in pursuing their own educational and professional goals- as Evan did in his life.

Click here to apply.