Dunkin’ supports prom for Diamond Children’s teen patients

03/06/2024

Lainy Sharpe and Xavier Goodman
were crowned prom king and queen
at the Feb. 1 UArizona men’s
basketball game.

Diamond Children’s Medical Center will host a prom for teenage patients on March 23, thanks to support from the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation. Dunkin’ has been a generous supporter of Banner Children’s for several years, and has provided a $50,000 grant to sponsor this special prom each year at the nonprofit hospital since 2022. The prom provides an opportunity for teens who have experienced illness to partake in this high school tradition that they might otherwise miss due to illness, infection concerns, or hospitalization.

The Diamond Children’s prom will include the tradition of a prom queen and king, crowned by the UArizona Athletics team mascots, Wilbur and Wilma, during the halftime show at the Feb. 1 men’s basketball game.

Prom queen Lainy Sharpe is battling mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, a very rare type of cancer. She has endured multiple invasive surgeries and is still undergoing chemotherapy. Lainy loves spending time with her family and their dogs, playing sports, painting, and scrolling through TikTok. This cancer journey has inspired her to want to become a pediatric oncology nurse when she grows up.

Prom king Xavier Goodman was diagnosed with pancreatoblastoma, a very rare cancer in children, in 2022. After spending months in the hospital and having his spleen and part of his pancreas removed, he is currently undergoing chemotherapy every two weeks. He is a big Wildcats fan, loves space and science, and spending time with his friends and family.

You can help make the Diamond Children’s Prom a success by purchasing and donating items from Amazon to serve as raffle prizes. Items will ship automatically to us for inclusion in the raffle.