Charity events added to Mean Green’s C-USA debut against Southern Miss

[Harry]

Kodi Tutt stood in front of the North Texas soccer team Wednesday in her pink shoes with butterfly wings attached and shared her story of triumph and tragedy, of hospital stays and battling cancer.

Tutts tale has touched the hearts of hundreds of people from her hometown of Sanger to those as far away as Australia, including Kelsey Hodges.

The UNT senior met the family a few months ago when she began working with Kodi Tutts older sister Maegan on her soccer skills.

What started out as a fun way to help out a young player turned into something much more meaningful for Hodges, who helped organize a charity event surrounding the Mean Greens Conference USA opener at 7 p.m. Friday against Southern Mississippi.

UNT will have a bounce house, face painting station and silent auction beginning at 5:30 p.m., with all proceeds going to the Kick It Kodi foundation.

After getting to know them over the last year, it felt like the right thing to do, Hodges said. They have given a lot to me as far as getting to know Kodi and Maegan and kind of being their older sister. It seemed like a cool idea, and they already have the Kick it Kodi foundation that helps kids with cancer who dont have the opportunities every little kid should have to run and play.

Kodi, an energetic redhead who is now 9, was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve cells, on March 9, 2010.

Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20130925-women-s-soccer-hodges-unt-kick-in-for-kodi.ece