Dolphins Cancer Challenge has eclipsed its 2024 financial goal, but the work still remains
It started as a bit of competition.
In 2021, edge rusher Jaelan Phillips had extensively trained with former Miami Dolphins receiver Mack Hollins. At the time, Hollins was on the board of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge and decided to pose a test of strength, if you will, between him and Phillips.
“Mack is a psychopath when it comes to training,” Phillips told Dolphins HQ host Travis Wingfield. “So he was like ‘Come do the 100-mile bike ride with me.’ And so I was like ‘Sounds good, sounds like a challenge.’”
Added Phillips: “After doing the ride, being around DCC, seeing the incredible community support that’s around it — the 1000s of riders, all the people coming and just supporting — it was kind of a no-brainer for me to get involved in any way that I could.”
The result? Phillips joined the DCC board, a position that he still holds to this day. And as South Florida gears up for the 15th Annual DCC on Saturday, the goal to raise enough money to eventually find a cure for cancer remains has prominent as ever.
“You have 99 problems in this world until you have a health problem then you have one problem,” receiver Braxton Berrios told Wingfield. Trying to “get ahead of that, I think is the goal here. Being proactive instead of reactive is obviously the best thing to do as far as cancer research and everything else goes. Find a cure before a cure is needed, and that’s why I think we’re both so passionate about it.”
Founded in 2010, the DCC has transformed into the NFL’s largest fundraising event with more than $75 million donated to research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Participants can choose to walk or run the 5k or grab a bike and ride one of the four routes that honor Dolphins legends: the 13-mile Dan Marino ride, 39-mile Larry Csonka ride, 54-mile Zach Thomas ride and 99-mile Jason Taylor ride.
The previous iteration drew more than 7,000 people, roughly 460 of which happened to be cancer survivors, Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel told the Miami Herald in 2024.
“It’s just very rewarding,” Garfinkel added. “Cancer is something that affects everybody, myself, probably everybody, a family member, friend. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to see a community come together like this.”
South Florida’s sole cancer center recognized by the National Cancer Institute, Sylvester and the Dolphins have a longstanding relationship. The franchise pledged a $75 million donation by the end of 2026. That milestone, however, was eclipsed after the 2024 DCC, a sign of the community’s full-throttled support of the initiative.
“It’s just growing,” Phillips told Wingfield. “The first year I did it, it was a big event. Obviously a lot of hype around it. But these last two years, you can tell that — whether it’s the board, whether it’s Dolphins staff or other DCC staff or just community figures — [people] are really coming together to push DCC because I think people are starting to realize how really incredible it is.”
And while Phillips missed last year’s festivities due to his rehab of a torn Achilles, the young star was ecstatic that he will do the 13-mile ride come Saturday.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 5:12 PM.
