The Dana Farber Cancer Institute have teamed up with the Boston Red Sox for nearly 5 decades to formulate the Jimmy Fund- a charity to help battle cancer.
Mo Vaughn and Jason Leader
Many players, in their time in Boston, have contributed their time and effort to helping the Jimmy Fund. Two Red Sox greats, Mo Vaughn and John Valentin have decided to return to Fenway Park to help support the 10th annual Jimmy Fund Telethon. Mo Vaughn will be throwing out the first pitch during tomorrow night’s game against the New York Yankees at Fenway.
Former AL MVP Mo Vaughn was particularly involved with the Jimmy Fund during his playing days and was able to develop a close relationship with a strong willed young boy named Jason Leader.
“I think his fearless commitment to be positive- I think with all young people in these situations, you think about the trials and tribulations go through every day are miniscule compared to what they are going through” Mo Vaughn had said to describe Jason Leader. “He just put things in perspective,yYou know we’re out there playing and battling through a major league season is it really that tough, you 0 for 18’s 0 for 22s, strikeouts in games and errors, not coming through is it really that important when you put it in the same perspective of his life.”
Jason and Mo’s relationship began when Mo agreed to call the young boy on his 11th birthday. During their conversation, Mo had mentioned he would try to hit a home run for Jason. Later that night, Vaughn did just that.
“We learned just as much from him as he did from us.”
A few months later, Leader was invited to Fenway Park to toss out the first pitch. From there Vaughn and Leaders relationship just continued to grow.
For more information about the Jimmy Fund, or if you are interested in donating, visit: http://www.jimmyfund.org/.
If you are interested in hearing the audio of the conference call just go here for the download link.
