Marcus Riley, NBC5 Street Team (video)
If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that I would attend a game at Wrigley Field in a pink Cubs shirt, I would have called you a liar.
But there I was last weekend watching the Cub versus the Pirates dressed pretty in pink. But I wasn’t the only male in the crowd rockin’ the pink. It was all part of National City Bank’s efforts to honor breast cancer survivors.
Several weeks ago, I nominated Dr. Sandy Goldberg to be recognized as one of 20 breast cancer survivors at Wrigley Field. Dr. Sandy has been cancer-free for the past 7 years. Along with her segments on NBC5 News on weekend mornings, Dr. Sandy and I also do a weekly health podcast, and besides being colleagues and South Loop neighbors, she’s become family to me. It was hard to express it all in the 50 words or less that the nomination form called for. Along with being a survivor, Dr. Sandy has also started A Silver Lining Foundation, an organization dedicated to spreading breast cancer awareness, and more importantly, providing free mammograms.
Images: Breast Cancer Survivors Honored
Last week we headed to Wrigley Field, along with her husband Greg, and had brunch before the game with the other 19 survivors, the people who nominated them, and none other than Hall of Fame Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg! Of the 20 survivors, eight were chosen to stand at one of the positions on the field before the game, and Dr. Sandy drew second base! There she was, hamming it up on the field with Mark DeRosa before the Cubs put a whuppin’ on the Pirates. It’s a day I’ll never forget.
So this October when you start hearing about Breast Cancer Awareness month, don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other. It’s a disease that touches all of us, and there’s a long way to go in the fight to eradicate and treat it.
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