With mom as moral compass, Cowboys’ Prescott gives hope to cancer patients
DALLAS — Peggy Prescott often shows up in someone’s smile or the glint in their eyes.
Other times, it’s the words people use to describe their pain or the defiant spirit they wield.
Dak Prescott lost his mother to colon cancer more than 10 years ago. He has spoken to her every day since.
On this afternoon, the Cowboys quarterback has made an appearance for the Children’s Cancer Fund and is on his way to visit guests at the American Cancer Society Gene and Jerry Jones Family Hope Lodge. The ride affords him a few minutes to reflect.
The promise he made to tell his mother’s story, to celebrate and honor her memory, has evolved into much more.
Prescott doesn’t just headline an occasional event or donate through his Faith, Fight, Finish Foundation. In his role as global ambassador for the American Cancer Society, he meets with patients undergoing treatment and their families. He listens to their stories and looks for ways to help beyond conversation.
“I would trade all of this away to have my mom back,” Prescott told The Dallas Morning News in an interview after his appearances. “It is hard to come here. It is hard at times to figure out what I want to say and how I want to say it and not get emotional. To meet these families and see my mom in some of these smiles, some of these eyes and not get emotional. Hear words my mom said and not get emotional. “All of that is tough.” Not as tough as what these families are going through, Prescott knows.
And not so tough that he intends to stop.
A SAFE PLACE
Prescott and Sarah Jane Ramos welcomed their first child into the world Feb. 29.
Four days after baby MJ was born, dad was at Northpark Center with former Cowboys great Troy Aikman to announce this year’s fundraiser for the Children’s Cancer Fund.
The organization has been raising money for pediatric research and treatment programs for 34 years. “Quarterbacks for a Cure” has been its flagship event. Roger Staubach, the first Cowboys quarterback to deliver a Super Bowl title to the city, served as co-chairman with Aikman for more than two decades.
When he stepped aside two years ago, he was replaced by Prescott.
“You know, he’s cut from the same cloth,” Aikman said, comparing Prescott to Staubach. “He wants to give back to the community. The fact he made this a priority and said yes right away says a lot.
“I have great respect for Dak.”
Prescott left the event around 4:30 Monday afternoon. He ran an errand before arriving at the Hope Lodge at 5:45. The guests in the dining area were told they had a surprise. A few moments later, Prescott walked around the corner.
The room erupted in applause.
“This is a safe place, a place for you guys to come in and share your hopes, share your stories, create empathy for one another,” Prescott told the 75 or so people who were assembled after a grueling day of treatment.
“I know this is a place that would have been beneficial to my family through my mom’s fight with cancer.”
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Prescott’s mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in the summer of 2012. The family lived in a trailer park in Princeton, La.
Prescott remembers the constant travel for her treatments. They were lucky enough to have family close where his mother could stay. He wonders how they would have made ends meet if they had to pay for all of those nights in a hotel on top of the medical expenses.
The Gene and Jerry Jones Family Hope Lodge provides free lodging for cancer patients and caregivers who live more than 40 miles from treatment. Since the facility opened in September 2021, it has served more than 1,900 guests for over 35,000-plus nights at an estimated savings to those families of $7.7 million.
Buffy Viracola is the lodge’s senior manager. She knows of people who have forgone treatment before facilities like this were available.
Right after Hope Lodge opened in Dallas, a social worker told Viracola about a patient who would sneak into the hospital the night before treatment to sleep in the cafeteria or waiting room because they couldn’t afford a hotel room.
“That’s why we’re here,” Viracola said. “If we can remove that small piece of burden and financial worry …”
A WONDERFUL GIFT
Prescott puts aside the mic when his short speech to the group at Hope Lodge is done, claps his hands and says, “Let’s do it.”
He then goes to every table to chat. He shifts between sharing a laugh and consoling, whatever the situation dictates.
One of the first couples he visits is from Louisiana. “Where?” he asks. “Bossier City,” the man responds.
Prescott lights up. “That’s just down the road from us,” he said.
The people at the next table want to take selfies. A few minutes later, the two men Prescott visits don’t care to share much about their difficult journey. Their message is two thumbs up as they shout, “Go Cowboys.”
A veteran stands up to shake Prescott’s hand and whispers something in his ear. The quarterback nods his head, cups his left hand around the man’s neck and pulls him in for a hug.
Seconds later, a young man at the next table stands up and shouts, “Rayne Dakota Prescott.”
Prescott laughs.
“He knows my full name,” he said.
Michelle Mcinturff is one of the guests Prescott talks to in the dining room. She’s 56 and here because her cancer metastasized in her spine.
Mcinturff and Prescott get the chance to speak in another room later in the evening. Her initial diagnosis came more than seven years ago. She required an ileostomy, where an opening in the abdominal wall is made during surgery to allow intestinal waste to pass. One year after getting to ring the bell at the completion of her treatment, she learned the cancer had returned.
Mcinturff lives in Texarkana. She travels to Dallas every week or every other week for three-day treatment sessions.
Her father accompanied her on this trip.
“Oh my gosh,” Mcinturff said, her voice cracking. “The Hope Lodge has been a God send.”
She then reveals part of her emotional journey.
“I was upset because of the future that I was going to miss,” Mcinturff said. “Not because I knew I was going to pass away. I didn’t want to miss my daughter [Loren] getting married and my kids having kids.
“Somehow, I was gifted to be able to see all of that.”
Viracola is in the room as Mcinturff talks.
She wipes tears from her face.
CREATING EMPATHY
Prescott was a sophomore at Mississippi State when he took a break to return home to be with his mother. She never complained, but there were days he had to help her walk to the bathroom.
Peggy Prescott died on Nov. 3, 2013. The call for her son to “allow me to be your story” still echoes. The Cowboys quarterback paid tribute to her last year after receiving the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award for his commitment to philanthropy and community impact.
“It’s much more than just celebrating her now,” Prescott said. “It’s really trying to make that connection with these families to give them more than a smile and some time. True inspiration and true hope of understanding other people’s stories, how to deal with it.
“It’s creating empathy. The more we can do that, the closer we can grow, the more we can help our neighbors out.
“At the end of the day, that’s what I want to do to celebrate and honor my mother.”
There are 31 Hope Lodges around the country. The list will grow later this year when one opens in San Antonio.
Prescott is intrigued by the concept and wants to explore the viability of a facility in Louisiana. The drive to use his platform the way his mother wanted is the only thing that would pry him away from his daughter just days after her birth.
For years after the death of his mother, Prescott would write a letter or text her before games.
“The physical part, I’ve stopped for the most part,” Prescott said. “But the mental, the feeling her, hearing the words she said to me, none of that has stopped.
“Yeah, my mom is always on my mind, always on my heart. It’s why I’ve said before she’s my moral compass.
“It allows me to move throughout my day when things are hard, put a smile on my face and keep at it.”