Cancer survivor Lucchino on Jimmy Fund, health care
Former Red Sox CEO and Jimmy Fund Chairman Larry Lucchino joined Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” program yesterday, where he talked baseball, politics and funding cancer research.
Q. What do you have coming up and for how long have you been doing this?
A. I’ve been the chairman of The Jimmy Fund for two years, and before that, of course, with the Red Sox for many years, helping, I hope, to deepen the relationship between the Red Sox and The Jimmy Fund, which goes back to 1953. But the event we have on Monday, the Rally for the Jimmy Fund, is something that has been going on for about six years, and it has raised over $5 million. It’s a fun fundraiser. People go to their workplaces or their schools with Red Sox paraphernalia on, to celebrate Opening Day, which of course is quite special around here in New England — and if they raise $10 or more from the people who participate in their rally for The Jimmy Fund, they donate that to The Jimmy Fund, which supports patient care and cancer research at the Dana-Farber (Cancer) Institute. Last year, the winning school had Jackie Bradley and Travis Shaw come to their school to meet with them, to thank them, to congratulate them. ... To me, there’s something about the Red Sox that’s in our water supply, there’s something about The Jimmy Fund that’s also there.
Q. As a cancer survivor that has a pre-existing condition, you obviously benefited from Obamacare. Does it concern you at all (that) Republicans are trying to repeal something that could impact somebody’s ability to get lifesaving treatment?
A. Yes, yes it does. The pre-existing condition situation is one that I’ve lived with now for 30 years. And I am pleased that the country is debating health care. It used to be the third rail that people didn’t talk about very much. But it’s now a subject of real debate. In fact, I was sitting with my 10-year-old nephew at spring training in Fort Myers a couple weeks ago, and at one point he turned to his father who was also sitting at the table and said, ‘So dad, whats your view on health care?’ The fact that a 10-year-old asked that question, that maybe we are moving in the right direction, despite all the problems and controversy associated with it. Q. Can you weigh in a
little bit on the Cubs, their win, and what your feelings were as that was going on?
A. Well, it certainly brought back a lot of memories about the 2004 championship that we enjoyed after 86 years. And it was nice to see the reaction of Cub fans both in Chicago and all over the country to this success. I had always loved their old slogan, that any team can have a bad century. Seems to me that now they put that to rest.