Jo Dee Messina, Trace Adkins, Deana Carter and others will take the stage during a star-studded, 90s country-themed event organized by figure skating icon Scott Hamilton. The seventh-annual ‘Scott Hamilton and Friends,’ aiming to celebrate cancer survivorship and to benefit the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation, is set to take place this Sunday evening (November 19) at Bridgestone Arena in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Hamilton’s annual event, a salute to 90s country, aims to offer “a truly unforgettable event blending figure skating and live music,” featuring Olympic, World and National Champion figure skaters gliding to the performances of classic country anthems the arena crowd will know and love.
Hamilton, a figure skating champion, launched the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation after his own battle with cancer, aiming to “fill those gaps,” of anything he needed while he went through treatment. He said during a recent interview with iHeartRadio that he hopes a mentorship program that pairs cancer patients with survivors, easily-accessible information and other resources will help provide people with navigating the disease. Hamilton also reflected on losing his mother in the late 70s, and the strides in cancer research since then. He said “there wasn’t a thing they could do for her,” and he credited the work of two researchers with figuring out how to treat his own cancer when he received his diagnoses nearly 20 years later in the 90s. Thanks to that research, he said, “I’ve been able to live the last 26 years. I wouldn’t be a husband, I wouldn’t be a father (if not for that research).
“(My mom) was kind of the center of our family,” he continued. “Eighteen years old is too young for a boy to lose his mom. It just is. So, if I can prevent that, if we can get ahead of these cancers and cure these cancers — especially the ones right now that have no proven treatment, or any effective treatment — and we can extend life, we can allow for more memories to be made and more influences to be had with these parents (and other loved ones). …So, for me, my inspiration is my mom.
“Through our work with CARES, if we can put more sand in the hourglass, then we’ve done our job well because I wouldn’t be a husband, I wouldn’t be a father without those two research scientists in Indiana, and we just need to empower more of those people to allow us to live our full lives, and a quality of life that should go with it.”
Hamilton’s family-friendly event kicks off at Bridgestone Arena in Downtown Nashville on Sunday evening (November 19) at 5 p.m. All proceeds w ill go toward funding cancer research. Artists set to take the stage include Adkins, Carter, Messina, Steve Wariner, The Frontmen featuring Richie McDonald (formerly of Lonestar), Larry Stewart of Restless Heart, Tim Rushlow (formerly of Little Texas), and Sixwire. Skating champions include Nathan Chen, Katia Gordeeva, David Pelletier, Jeremy Abbott and many more. Hamilton encouraged people to visit the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation website for more information about cancer and cancer research.
“It’s remarkable that 1.9 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and 69 people an hour — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — succumb to their cancers,” Hamilton said. “More people are surviving, thanks to research, but 69 (deaths) an hour? Really? …Imagine the devastation of the families, and the heartache. (Cancer is a) solvable problem, we just need to dedicate ourselves to it and make it happen.”