MLB Athlete Donates $3.5 Million to Fight Childhood Cancer

Thanks to people like Anthony Rizzo, more and more people are becoming aware of pediatric cancers and what they can do to help.

Cancer doesn’t discriminate. This means that, unfortunately, pediatric cancer is a problem that many children and families have to face.

While nowhere near as common as adult cancer, over 15,000 children were estimated to be diagnosed with cancer in the United States in 2017. In order to help those struggling with the disease, it is vital to raise awareness in hopes that greater support for research will help find a cure. 

Anthony Rizzo is a star player for the Chicago Bears who also played an important role in the World Series, winning during the 2016 championship. When he was a teenager, Rizzo was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL), and as part of his therapy treatment, he had to undergo six months of chemotherapy. Since HL can be cured and also has a good response to chemotherapy, Rizzo struggled, but eventually recovered from his cancer. He has been in remission ever since his teenage years. From this experience, he wants everyone battling cancer to have the same outcome he had. The medical fraternity is trying their best to find a cure for cancer and they are getting increasingly closer to finding the answer, but there is still a long way to go. When it comes to pediatric cancer, there is even more pressure to find a cure sooner.

Cancer treatment has seen some incredible advancements in recent years, including treatment procedures such as immunotherapy, gene therapy, bone marrow transplantation, and many more. But there are still many cancer patients who have to undergo chemotherapy as well as radiation therapy at certain points in their cancer treatment. These treatments, unfortunately, come with their own side effects which can result in other medical conditions. A few of the most frequently diagnosed pediatric cancers include brain cancer, leukemia, thyroid cancer, CNS tumors, and melanoma. Currently, there is no cure for any of these, but the survival rates in children who have these cancers are improving drastically.

Anthony Rizzo presented a generous gift of $3.5 million to the Lurie Hospital based in Chicago, and it will surely do wonders for the children there who are currently battling cancer. These kinds of donations make a huge difference in the lives of such patients as well as their families. There are various charitable organizations that are pursuing this noble cause as well as raising awareness about cancer so that people understand the symptoms, are alert for an earlier diagnosis, and can start treatment that much sooner. Rizzo is just one example of the many who support this noble cause and are garnering financial support.