LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University named their new facility the ‘Tyler Trent Pediatric Cancer Research Center,’ at Purdue’s Hammer Down Cancer football game Saturday after the beloved graduate that passed away from the rare bone cancer osteosarcoma on Jan. 1, 2019.

Trent was well known for being a Purdue football fan as well as predicting that Purdue would win a game against Ohio State University. In a surprise, Purdue won the game and the crowd began to chant his name.

Trent passed three months after that game, but Purdue has worked to keep his memory alive.

“Purdue University is ensuring that the memory of the former graduate and devoted Boilermaker football fan will love on through research to cure his disease and other pediatric cancers,” as stated in a press release from Purdue.

Researchers and Professors are currently working on a prospective drug therapy to target the cancer. “A third of patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma die from it, and these are mostly adolescents. That’s a real tragedy that speaks to the need to continue to push the envelope and look for new ways to improve the outlook for those patients,” Michael Childress, professor of comparative oncology, in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said.

Trent’s family is also working endlessly to keep his legacy alive.

“There are hardly words to articulate what this means,” Kelly said. “As a parent who has lost a child, the best gift you can give me is to remember my child and celebrate him. One of Tyler’s passions, as many know, was pediatric cancer research, and to have his name attached to a center doing that work, in his honor, is absolutely priceless! Words and a thank-you to the Purdue cancer institute are just not enough. Words feel inadequate for how grateful we are as a family.”

Trent’s family donated $100,000 to the new center.

Supporters can donate to the Tyler Trent Pediatric Cancer Research Center here.