Pink campaign is close to Sams’ heart
When the Edmonton Eskimos run on the field at Commonwealth Stadium, their offensive co-ordinator will be an easy man to find. He’ll be the one dressed in pink, head to toe.
“If I don’t, I’ll get in trouble,” Doug Sams said on Thursday, laughing and wiping tears away from his face. “It means a lot.”
Sams has had a painful but educational front-row seat this year as he’s watched two of the most important women in his world fight for their lives.
“This is a special couple of games,” he began, describing the CFL’s Pink campaign, where the league raises funds and awareness for women’s cancer through October.
He barely had the words out and was already emotionally caught up.
“Because my wife has cancer and my mom does, too. It kind of hits home. My wife, her cancer is in remission and she’s started radiation treatments. My mom’s been battling breast cancer off and on for the last 15 years.”
This year started off well for Doug and his wife, Brenda, who were married in 2001. He was hired by the Eskimos on Jan. 25, but it wasn’t long after that they found out she’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer of the lymph tissue).
“Everything hit at once,” Sams said. “I got the job here and she was diagnosed and she had to start treatments.”
“It hasn’t been easy,” he said. “I don’t wish it on anybody, I really don’t. When you think about it, it’s been hard. It didn’t help that in the first part of September, the family dog died of cancer.”
The Eskimos organization has been aware of Brenda’s health from the moment Doug arrived in Edmonton.
The Eskimos have had pink gear to wear all week in practice. Sams was on the field on Monday in his pink baseball cap.
“I think awareness is important,” he said. “I think it helps to talk about it, that there are treatments available, there’s a lot of good things out there and you shouldn’t give up.”