On Wednesday, Fran McCaffery, along with his wife, Margaret, hosted the Hawkeye Basketball Tipoff Party at UIHC, benefiting the Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Program.

More than 250 members of the Iowa City community raised money by attending the event.

Over the first five years, the event raised more than $635,000. This year’s goal was to raise around $200,000.

“It’s amazing how much this event has grown,” McCaffery said in a release. “When we first started the event we didn’t know where it would go. We probably had 60-70 people and we just wanted to create awareness and raise some money to get it started. We raised $52,000 the first year and it has gone up significantly ever since. We can’t thank the sponsors, restaurants, and the incredibly generous supporters enough.”

The cause is something that hits home for the McCaffery family, as their son, Patrick, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2014.

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Former Indiana coach Tom Crean was invited to the event, as well. McCaffery spoke about Crean’s support at the event, saying Crean called him after the diagnosis and prayed over the phone with him.

“You never want to see your friends face adversity and go through challenges by themselves,” Crean said in a release. “You learn what friendship is all about along the way. In a way that is what happened with Fran and I.”