At the ages nine and twelve, B.J. and Emily Viau had to face an unfortuanate reality; thier mother had been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. This disease is a combination of Parkinson's and Alzeihmer's, causes its victim to progressively lose their mental and physical capabilities. In essence, B.J. and Emily were going to have to watch as they slowly lost their mom, and with no cure in sight.

Huntington's is a hereditary disease from which multiple people from B.J. and Emily's family had suffered. It was a combination of this, B.J.'s love for his mother, and passion for basketball that led to the creation of the Hoop-A-Thon. The first year had only 50 people in attendence, and raised $5000. Twelve years later the Hoop-A-Thon is raising over $50000 and drawing a crowd around 5000.

This year the Hoop-A-Thon is experiencing a great deal of changes. One of the biggest is that many of father Brian's tasks will be passed down to Emily.All I can say is it's been a learning experience. As Emily desscribes the new experience she states, "I've been part of the planning before but I didn't have a true appreciation for the amount of time and effort that goes into this event until this year." With new leadership, other changes are naturally going to take place. Emily wants to "bring a fresh face to the event. The goal is to keep things similar enough so people recognize the event but different enough to keep them interested and wanting to come back next year with more donations!" Each alteration made is with the hope that the community will develop more of an awareness and understanding of Hoop-A-Thon and raise more money towards a cure.

Emily's brother, B.J. has a similar take. He seems to be most excited about the crowd that the changes will draw. Brian predicts that the, "The record crowd will be able to watch the Timberwolves "Dunk Team" who put on an act dunking off trampolines from the FT line. We will stop the event and have everyone gather around for the entertainment." With all the new ideas that will chalge the event B.J. will probably get his wish. Just for donating $25 the donater will receive a gift bag with a T-shirt and other prizes including giftcards. Donate $100 and two Timbewolves tickets worth $44 will be added to your bag. Then With new games for kids and adults alike, and a silent auction for the adults, the Hoop-A-Thon truly will have as Emily worded it a, "a new face."