When Ron and Nel McCreery got cancer, the Phillipsburg rodeo stepped in to help.

In April of 2024, Ron was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Then seven months later, Nel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of melanoma.

Ron underwent radiation last summer, traveling to Hays five days a week for treatment. When doctors diagnosed Nel’s melanoma, she had surgery to remove the spot and the lymph nodes on her right side.

Kansas Biggest Rodeohelped financially, sending the Phillipsburg couple a check. It came in handy, Nel said.

“They were the first to reach out to us,” she said.

The donated funds come from the rodeo’s annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, always held on the first night of rodeo, this year on July 31. One dollar for every fan wearing pink is donated to the fund, with funds matched by the Phillipsburg Rodeo Association, A&A Distributing, Amber Wave, B&B Redimix, Inc., Farmers State Bank, W.B. DesJardins Fund and Rodgers and Associates. The funding program is called Hope in the Heartland.

The McCreerys used the donated funds for travel expenses.

“We used it for gas, and that helped us tremendously, because every day we drove to Hays and back. And there’s all the incidentals, the doctor appointments, and other things. It was very, very nice not to have to worry about it. God provided.”

Ron helped update the rodeo facility in the 1980s, when he, along with with Cliff Van Kooten, Danzey Price and Bob McCreery, built the east chutes and pens.

Ron’s cancer is under control, Nel said. He has PSA tests every three months, but he’s done with treatment.

Nel is matter-of-fact about their medical struggles.

“It’s what life gives you. You just deal with it. You can be negative or you can think, we’re going to do this. Sooner or later it will turn out OK.”

And the couple is grateful to the Phillipsburg rodeo’s Hope in the Heartland fund, and to their community.

“That’s why we live here. Small town people take care of their people. You’re not a stranger here.

“We’re so thankful for what the rodeo gave us.”

Last year, Hope in the Heartland financially assisted sixteen people. Since Tough Enough to Wear Pink began in 2006, more than $167,000 has been raised. One hundred percent of donations go to assist people with cancer; no money is held back for administrative costs.