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Irvine High School Football Team Helps Raise Funds For Player With Cancer

IRVINE (CBSLA.com) — After Moises Alvarez, a junior at Beckman High School in Irvine, was recently diagnosed with cancer, his teammates, coaches and fellow students have rallied to help the teenager and his family.

Not only was Alvarez, a defensive end on the Beckman High School football team, diagnosed with cancer in late July, but his mother, Irma Herrera also had to quit her job to take care of her son.

The community's response has been led by one of Alvarez's coaches, Al Mejia, who lost his son to a rare form of cancer just before his fifth birthday last year.

In an effort to help similarly struggling families, Mejia created the charity Donovan's Smile, which provides car packages for kids and raises funds for families going through the challenges of cancer treatments. The charity's name is an acronym that stands for support, minister, inspire, love and embrace. The purpose of the nonprofit is to give people, "love, hope and faith", Mejia said.

The charity and the team hosted a big fundraiser at the Beckman High School football game on Friday night. The team also wore gold socks in honor of Moises and Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month as they took on rival Foothill Ranch High School.

Both teams participated in a pregame ceremony raising awareness about pediatric cancer just after the coin toss.

For more information, go to Donovan's Smile website.

To help Moises and his family during his treatment, visit this page to donate.

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