In memoriam: UVA Basketball alum Andy Burns loses battle with cancer

I just learned today that 2010 UVA alum Andy Burns, who was a member of the basketball team for two of his years on Grounds, passed away on June 18, a year into his battle with stage IV metastatic melanoma.

Burns was given the cancer diagnosis last June, as he and his wife, Laura, were preparing to welcome their second child, Peter James, PJ, into their family with their 2-year-old daughter, Caroline Jean, CJ.

“If the unwavering will to keep fighting, despite whatever odds, and any amount of pain, to continue to be there for the people he loved, was all he needed to survive, Andy would, I am certain of that,” Andy’s brother, Scott Burns, wrote online. “Sadly, his cancer was simply too aggressive, and the tools we had to fight it, not advanced enough. While the anguish of this loss is unimaginable, deep down, we knew this day was coming and are grateful for the time we did get.”

We had written last month about Scott’s effort to raise money for his brother’s wife and children through GoFundMe, and that effort continues.

At this writing, the fundraising campaign is at $91,000 toward a $100,000 goal.

“Andy’s high school yearbook quote at Bishop Ireton said, ‘To have a friend, you have to be a friend,” and I think that speaks to the way Andy lived his life,” Scott Burns wrote on the GoFundMe page. “There was never a question that Andy would be there, by your side, if you needed help. He truly was the best of us. I have no doubt that he would want us to not take for granted what we have, and to be the people we strive to be, for those around us, going forward.”