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Darren Rovell, ESPN Senior Writer 5y

Purdue superfan Tyler Trent gets bobblehead to help cancer fight

College Football, Purdue Boilermakers

Former Purdue student Tyler Trent, who has a rare form of bone cancer, became such a national sensation during the Boilermakers' victory over Ohio State last month that there was a significant rise in donations supporting cancer research.

Now the 20-year-old Trent will have his own bobblehead, with a portion of the proceeds from each sale going to cancer research.

"I'm so humbled by this opportunity," Trent told ESPN by text. "I hope people continue to donate and give to cancer research."

The Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee has struck a deal with Trent and Purdue University to make a bobblehead that will go on sale Thursday morning on its website for $30. The Tyler Trent Cancer Research Endowment at Purdue will receive $2 from the proceeds of each bobblehead sold, while The V Foundation for Cancer Research will get $3 for each sold.

"Tyler's bobblehead is somewhat new territory, but it's very similar to many of our other successful bobbleheads like Sister Jean, where people feel a strong connection to the person and their message," said Phil Sklar, founder of the Hall of Fame Bobblehead Museum, which put the bobbleheads on presale on its site on Thursday morning.

"This is one of those bobbleheads that I think will resonate with so many people beyond just the Purdue community."

Sklar, whose company sold 17,500 Sister Jean bobbleheads earlier this year, said that he is hoping to write "some very large checks" to the Tyler Trent Cancer Research Endowment and the V Foundation.

Donations to Tyler's fund, thanks in part to a dollar-for-dollar match with the Walther Cancer Center in Indianapolis, have topped $100,000.

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