Dicaprio Bootle is on a mission: to become a star athlete in the NFL. However, he’s preparing to give back along the way to his goal. Dicaprio is fundraising for Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit, athlete-focused organization that aims to inspire the rare disease community through the lens of sports and help fundraise to support critical rare disease research and drug development. Uplifting Athletes operates athlete-run chapters at 24 different universities around the country.
Reps for Rare Disease
The organization runs several different fundraising programs at the same time. Dicaprio is part of the program called Reps for Rare Diseases. This program consists of former college athletes who are ready to give back to the rare disease community as they continue along their path to playing at the professional level. This program is supported by Horizon Therapeutics, which is matching all donations up to $35,000. The fundraising for Reps for Rare Diseases is based on the amount of bench press reps that the player expects to perform during upcoming pro days.
“I have committed my performance at the Nebraska Pro Day to support Uplifting Athletes and its mission to inspire the Rare Disease Community with hope through the power of sport.” – Dicaprio Bootle
Dicaprio will be participating the the upcoming Nebraska Pro Day:
“Fans and supporters can pledge for each bench press rep I perform (my goal is 15) at the Nebraska Pro Day on March 23.”
Using His Platform
As a college athlete, Dicaprio learned all to well about the important and impactful platform that athletes carry. This gives them a unique ability to use their voices for advocacy and make a difference for others. While individual rare diseases may have small patient populations, the cumulative impact of the thousands of rare diseases that are out there means that around 30 million people in the US are living with them, and about half of that number is children.
Are you ready to support Dicaprio and the Reps for Rare Diseases Campaign? Click here to donate.
Click here to learn more about Uplifting Athletes.
