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Student Uses ‘Brackets’ to Raise $$ for SIDS Research

Freshman Michael McConville created website to combat disease that took his brother 

With his Brackets For Life website, Duke freshman Michael McConville aims to channel some of the excitement surrounding the NCAA basketball tournament into research funding for a disease that took the life of his infant brother.

 McConville explains his Brackets for Life website in this video.

When McConville was two years old, his brother Christopher, then five months old, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

"If Christopher's legacy could be the driving force behind me raising a lot of money for SIDS research, then that would be the best outcome of a horrible situation," said McConville,  of Butler, N.J.

Beginning on "Selection Sunday," March 17, users of the Brackets for Life website can make minimum donation of $2 and fill out a bracket predicting how teams will advance through the tournament. Half of the money raised will go to the C.J. Foundation for SIDS. The other half of the money will be divided evenly among the charities designated by the five participants with the most successful brackets.

In creating and publicizing the website, McConville has received help from students in the InCube entrepreneurial-themed living group.

"It's great to see that people can still be generous like that," he said.