(LEX 18) — Kentucky football's Chris Oats was the recipient of this year's Mike Lyden Courage Award, presented on BBN Tonight's exclusive coverage of the 2020-21 CATSPY Awards.
Oats, along with his mother and his aunt, joined the show Thursday evening to accept the award and thank the Big Blue Nation for all of its support throughout the past year.
One of the main ways the UK fan base has supported the Oats family is through the "22 Oats Strong" GoFundMe page, found here. The page has raised over $50,000, as of May 14, 2021, and its still growing.
"That has really helped him out a lot. We thank BBN for that," Chris's mom, Kem Gamble, told BBN Tonight. "Chris just asked about how that was going just recently, and I showed him how much love the fan base had shown him."
The GoFundMe page was originally organized by Chris's teammate Keaton Upshaw, as well as other members of the UK football team. The fundraiser says: "Members of the University of Kentucky football team created this GoFundMe page to help our teammate and brother, junior linebacker Chris Oats, who has been battling a serious medical condition since May of 2020. We are so thankful for anything you can give to help his family with mounting medical bills."
If you'd like to donate to Chris and his family, you can find the 22 Oats Strong page here.
