On his 23rd birthday this October, Dallas Elliott learned he had cancer.

Just days earlier, he was doing what he had worked toward his entire life: playing Division I football for the University of Massachusetts. After about ten days of what seemed like cold symptoms, Dallas began finding it increasingly difficult to take a full breath. Following a football game, he went to the emergency room. That visit marked the beginning of a journey neither he nor our family could have imagined.

To understand Dallas’s fight, it helps to know the heart and determination that brought him here.

Dallas has played sports since elementary school, including football, basketball, and baseball, carrying his love of competition and commitment to his teammates through middle school and high school. His dream of playing college football came with obstacles long before his diagnosis.

His junior football season, the year so many athletes rely on to get noticed by college coaches, was canceled because of COVID. Without that season and the opportunity to build the film recruiters typically look for, his path to Division I football became much harder. Still, Dallas kept working.

In 2022, he earned an opportunity to join UMass Football as a preferred walk-on. There was no athletic scholarship waiting for him. He and our family took on the cost of school while he committed countless hours to football and academics, determined to prove he belonged.

Year after year, Dallas stayed with it. He contributed wherever his coaches needed him: on the scout team, on special teams, and eventually at wide receiver, the position he had worked so hard to play. His progress came through years of persistence, patience, and showing up for his team, even when opportunities were limited.

As he prepared for his graduate season in the spring of 2026, that work continued. Then came a moment he had earned: Dallas was awarded an athletic scholarship.

We were so proud. He had stayed committed to his dream and to the program through every challenge along the way.

Five games into a season that had begun with so much promise for both Dallas and UMass Football, everything changed.

After meeting with doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Dallas learned he has a rare form of cancer. His care team discussed a treatment approach that may include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. He began treatment on October 27 and faces multiple cycles of chemotherapy.

Today, the determination Dallas has always brought to the field is with him as he faces cancer. He continues to show strength, positivity, and care for the people around him, even while navigating so much uncertainty himself.

He is surrounded by his high school sweetheart, Emily, a loving circle of family, friends, teammates, and coaches. The support already shown to Dallas has humbled our family and brought us comfort during some of our hardest days.

We are creating this fundraiser to support Dallas as he navigates treatment and the road ahead. There is so much we cannot anticipate, and your generosity will help us meet his needs as they arise, allowing Dallas and our family to focus on his health, healing, and time together.

Whether you donate, share this page, send a message, or simply keep Dallas in your thoughts, thank you. Every act of kindness reminds him, and all of us, that he has a community standing beside him.

Your kindness, encouragement, and support mean more to our family than we can put into words.

With love and gratitude,

Dallas and the Elliott Family