WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Tyler Neville was feeling sick and alone.
"I hiked about a mile to the Harvard Square Hotel, and didn't see the sun for 10 days," Neville recalled.
See, in April - just days before the end of his first year as a student and a football player at Harvard University, Neville caught COVID-19. While in quarantine, the 20 year-old was isolated inside a small hotel room. However, he still had a big, far-reaching vision.
"I had nothing better to do, so I started researching," Neville explained. "I thought I could do this pretty easily. So I texted my mom and told her I am going to start a foundation."
And he did.
This week, the Tyler Neville Foundation was launched.
Its mission is to provide resources and support to children battling cancer. Children like Neville himself.
The Lafayette High School product from Williamsburg battled and beat stage two Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"No matter how many ordeals I've been through, I am blessed," Neville told News 3 Sports Director Adam Winkler this week. "Going through that, and being able to tell the tale at a place like Harvard - I feel like I owe it to every other kid in the chemo ward. No childhood should be left behind. The idea is to take their mind off chemo, enrich their childhood, provide resources and ensure their childhood is not all IVs and chemotherapy."
The foundation's inaugural event is an Athletes Against Lymphoma 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Warhill Sports Complex in Williamsburg June 26th. Registration opens at 8 a.m. Thursday June 10th and all proceeds will go towards the oncology unit at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters - where Tyler was treated.
"The motto is: angels among us," Neville added. "Everyone has the option to do good, and be an angel in their lifetime. I want to max mine out."
So that's why, when he was feeling sick and alone - Tyler Neville was feeling for others who are sick and alone.
Click here to learn more about the Tyler Neville Foundation.
