Most people may not expect anything negative to happen, but anything can happen at any time in life. Athletes are normally busy all the time. They don’t have many days off. One day, everything changed for Anthony Rizzo.
The Cubs first baseman was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in April 2008. It was very hard on him to receive that information. He said, “I went on a road trip, I get back, and I had gained like 15 pounds because my legs had swelled up.”
After being diagnosed, Anthony was invited to Fenway Park by Theo Epstein, who was the GM of the Red Sox at the time, to talk about how they were going to go about the situation. Epstein said, “It really is a family when you’re in an organization.” As hard as it was for the Rizzo family to hear the diagnosis, it was also hard for the whole Red Sox organization. When you’re an athlete, you have more than just teammates. You have a family.
Epstein then set up a meeting between Rizzo and one of his teammates, Jon Lester. Lester had overcome Lymphoma himself, winning a World Series a few months after beating it. Jon and Anthony sat down and had a conversation that lasted more than an hour about the challenges of battling cancer and the positive attitude to have to attack it. Lester had been through it all, so he talked Anthony through the process of treatment and help him stay positive through it all. He was keeping him calm.
Lester said, “You’re just trying to be as positive as you can to an 18-year-old kid who just had all his hopes and dreams ripped away in a 20-minute conversation with his doctor.” Three days later, Jon threw a no-hitter. Lester was positive through the whole process, and he knew that’s what it was going to take for Anthony.
In 2008, Anthony began his chemotherapy treatment for six months. That meant no baseball for Rizzo. That year, in September, as his family was boarding a plane to go see Rizzo’s brother in Florida for his football game, his mother’s phone rang.
Remission. Anthony’s mom said that phone call was, “The best call ever.” Anthony has began remission. He stayed positive through the process and beat cancer.
Since battling and beating cancer, Anthony decided to make his own foundation to help other kids like him in need. In 2012, the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation began. He does many things within his foundation. Every year, Anthony and his foundation holds a Cook-Off For Cancer, Walk-Off For Cancer, and Laugh-Off For Cancer benefit. It helps raise money for kids with any type of cancer and their families.
Anthony knows what it feels like to be in the situation of other kids. He knows its rough and it costs lots of money for treatment and hospital bills. Anthony visits the cancer centers in Chicago and spends the whole day there just talking to kids and keeping them positive and telling them what to expect. He does many different activities and he has raised so much money for cancer research and for the kids and families that need help through all the difficult times.
Anthony Rizzo donated $3.5 million, which is half of his salary for a season, to Lurie, a children's hospital in Chicago. Since Anthony started his foundation in 2016, he has made approximately $3,700,000. His foundation has raised millions of dollars to help hospitals in the area and for cancer research.