WOLVERINES

Piece on Chad Carr to air at 10:10 a.m. Saturday

Angelique S. Chengelis
The Detroit News


Chad Carr, the 5-year-old who lost his fight this week with an inoperable brain tumor, will be featured on ESPN's "College GameDay" on Saturday around 10:10 a.m., according to an ESPN release.

Chad Carr has been immortalized by his mother Tammi Carr's hashtag creation, #ChadTough and the family's foundation ChadTough.org. He was the grandson of longtime Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and Michigan All-American Tom Curtis. His father, Jason, was a Michigan quarterback.

ESPN visited with the family last week to document how a little boy captured the attention of the UM community for more than a year and whose story touched many across the world and country and crossed rivalry lines. The Michigan State and Ohio State players wore specially-designed #ChadTough helmet decals during their game last Saturday.

Tammi Carr shared via social media her son’s 15-month battle, which ended Monday, when he peacefully died surrounded by family members. From her first posts, when she asked for prayers from around the world for her son, to all of the family-oriented activities they shared with him, to the promotion of ChadTough.org to raise money for research related to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma (DIPG), a tumor located in a small area of the brain stem, to the absolute heartbreak of his final weeks, she has been honest and open.

"We were able to shoot a feature story with ESPN 3 days before our little Chad left us for his forever home in heaven," Tammi wrote on Facebook. "We made sure to let the producers know that we really wanted them to share the reality of DIPG and to help us create awareness. We are hopeful that this feature will bring some more attention for all families who are battling this monster and will help us to build Chad's legacy."

Shortly after Chad’s death, Tammi shared on Facebook that she and her husband decided to donate Chad’s tumor for DIPG research. Three institutions, she wrote, including the DIPG registry, “now have samples and are starting to grow cell lines. We are determined to make a change on many levels and this is one step in the right direction.”

Chad’s life will be celebrated Sunday at the Saline High School Performing Arts Center. The visitation from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (no photos) and the one-hour celebration of life that will begin at 2 p.m. is open to the public.

The family has requested that attendees wear Chad’s favorite color, orange. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to ChadTough.org.