Submitted photos A Hoops for Hope basketball game took place earlier this week at the Austintown Fitch gymnasium that pitted Austintown Intermediate School staff members against the school’s fifth-grade boys and girls basketball teams as a fundraiser for teacher Chelsea Kachelries, who has cancer. Some of the participants included, kneeling, from left, Jenna Riccardo, Adam Loudin and Lainey Loudin. First row, from left, are Deb Fuller, Chrissy Calderon, Gina Velichko, Katie Corbett, Dorothy Reppy and Junie Higgs. Second row, from left, are Ryan Gill, Chrissy Palmer, Michele O’Bruba, Brittney Inglis, Jason Stroh, Britney Zalenga, Lisa Fitzgerald and Brady Evans. In back row are Derek Summer and EJ Giles.

AUSTINTOWN — Austintown Intermediate School brought students, staff and the community together for a special evening of basketball and support during the “Hoops for Hope” benefit game earlier this week.

The event took place at the Fitch High School gymnasium, where Austintown Intermediate School staff members faced off against the school’s fifth-grade girls and boys basketball teams in a friendly competition designed to raise funds for teacher Chelsea Kachelries and her family.

In addition to the game, the evening featured a basket raffle, concessions and performances by the Austintown Fitch High School Rock Band. All proceeds will go to benefit the Kachelries family.

The annual staff-versus-students basketball game has been a tradition at Austintown Intermediate School for more than a decade. According to Alexis Kuhn, Chelsea’s sister and a third-grade language arts teacher at the school, the event has been organized for the past 13 years by guidance counselor Lisa Fitzgerald.

Each year, the game is played to support a member of the school community facing difficult circumstances. Beyond raising funds, the event also serves as a lesson for students about the value of teamwork, compassion and helping others.

“The goal of the game is to give back to a student’s family or staff member who may be going through a difficult time,” Kuhn said. “This also teaches students the importance of working together and giving back to a good cause.”

This year’s fundraiser is especially meaningful as it supports Kachelries, a fourth-grade teacher at Austintown Intermediate School, who is battling cancer. Kachelries is also a wife and the mother of four children who attend Austintown schools.

Her health challenges began last spring.

“Beginning in May, I began feeling very unwell,” Kachelries said. “I had severe neck pain along with other symptoms that I attributed to being a fourth-grade teacher.”

After finishing the school year and returning from a family vacation, she sought medical attention in July and received the shocking news that she had two tumors on her brain. She was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, where surgeons removed one tumor on July 11.

Doctors later confirmed the tumors were melanoma. Because the second tumor’s location made surgery impossible, Kachelries underwent Gamma Knife radiation treatments, along with immunotherapy treatments aimed at stopping the spread of the disease.

While those treatments eliminated suspected cancer spots in her small intestine, they also caused serious complications, including damage to her adrenal glands and severe hepatitis affecting her liver. With months of treatment and high doses of medication, her liver has since recovered, though she will require lifelong medication for adrenal gland failure.

During ongoing scans, doctors also discovered a second, unrelated cancer diagnosis — papillary thyroid cancer. Kachelries underwent surgery for that condition on Jan. 27 and continues to undergo monitoring and possible additional treatments.

Despite the long and difficult medical journey, Kachelries said the support from her family, friends and the Austintown community has carried her through.

“I graduated from Fitch, as did my husband, and my mom, and all four of my children go to Austintown schools,” she said. “I love Austintown. This situation has shown me just how much Austintown loves my family and me as well.”

She added that the support from colleagues and the school district has been overwhelming in the best way.

“They have taken myself and my children under their wings in every way,” she said. “Hoops for Hope is just another example of this.”

For organizers and participants alike, the event is about more than basketball — it’s about standing together as a community to support one of their own.