Teen Cancer Survivor Sells Yellow Shoelaces to Help Other Young Patients

As a 10-year-old, Molly Norris of Ohio was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma—a type of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system. Now 15, Norris is a cancer survivor and she’s doing her part to help other kids with the disease.

And she’s doing it with a simple item: shoelaces.

Norris has teamed up with the Go 4 The Goal, a charitable organization that provides financial support for children with cancer, to sell yellow shoelaces to people in her community. All the proceeds go to hospitals to help young adults recover from treatment. In Norris’ case, the money she has raised goes to Akron Children’s Hospital.

Molly has sold more than 500 shoelaces and raised $3,500 so far (mainly selling to her classmates and athletes in her high school), and she’s just getting started.

“I want to get more schools involved and get other people involved,” she tells Live Life and Win. 

It was a visit to her oncologist that got her started with Go 4 The Goal.

“We got my soccer team involved and then all the sports in my school involved,” she says, “and then we asked all the other schools to help us out and do it too, so they had their lace-up games and they wore their laces.”

The support has really been overwhelming.

“I think it means a lot since I know there are a few kids in my school who have passed away from cancer or are going through it now,” she said. “I think it means a lot that the community can come together and do something like this.”