Over the last 10 years, Theresa’s Battleship has evolved from a small Relay For Life team, to a nationwide army of survivors, supporters, and crusaders, raising over 1 million dollars.

Relay For Life, the beginning..

The Theresa's Battleship Foundation became certified as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2014, but the roots of our foundation began in 2010, when Theresa Joan Fitzpatrick, at the age of 16, was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. This type of Sarcoma would infect her lymph nodes, lungs, heart, eyes, and brain.

In 2011, the Cheshire, CT town-wide Relay For Life event, held by the American Cancer Society, announced the theme of the Relay would be board games. A group of Cheshire High School juniors, Theresa’s peers, decided they wanted to create a team to honor Theresa and her fight against cancer. It was then that the name Theresa’s Battleship was born. The team received a Silver Medal award for their fundraising efforts during their first year participating.

As Theresa continued her fight, her courage, positivity and determination spread hope throughout the entire community. In 2012, during the planning of the Theresa’s Battleship Relay team the group wanted to do more. Theresa decided that with this year’s team she’d also like to support Project Purple which is when the group decided to make and sell tshirts. The shirts would be purple, the color of hope, in Theresa’s favorite design, tie dye. The shirts would be sold with not only the intention to fundraise, but also to raise awareness of Theresa’s fight and so many others like her. Sitting next to a table in the lobby of the school, the students sold the shirts over the period of a few weeks, essentially expanding their number of members in “Theresa’s Battleship" from 20 to over 200. On the day of the 2012 Relay for Life, Cheshire High School was filled with hundreds of purple Theresa’s Battleship shirts.

"Every time I turned around, I saw purple," Theresa Fitzpatrick

Despite the chemotherapy, surgeries, and all the side effects that came with them, Theresa never lost the qualities that made her so special. She captained her high school tennis and soccer teams, went to parties, spent endless times with many friends, went to prom, and completed her first year of college at Quinnipiac University as a biology major.

Theresa’s three years with cancer brought pain and hardship that few of us can imagine, yet they were defined by anything but suffering. Theresa led the last years of her life with the same resolve. enthusiasm, compassion and love that we came to admire about her. She continued to do what she did best; be unapologetically herself. Theresa’s spirit inspired and continues to inspire others across the globe.

Making it official..

In 2014, The Theresa's Battleship Foundation became a certified non-profit organization in memory of our friend Theresa. Our hope being to keep Theresa’s everlasting spirit alive by spreading kindness, helping to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research, and continuing to bring people together.

In the first 5 years as an established non-profit organization, the foundation raised over $500,000, 100% of which has helped to provide funding for the laboratory research and clinical trials program within the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, CT.

The Theresa’s Battleship Foundation has hosted several fundraisers including basketball tournaments, galas, organized runs, walks and relays, sent hundreds of cards to pediatric cancer patients, presented at events, made new friends and grown the battleship community more than we ever thought possible. As of November, 2021 we have now surpassed 1 million dollars raised!