December 12, 2005
Boston Red Sox Jimmy Fund Gallery gives Dana L1 a Fenway feel
President Benz, Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, and coaches Ron Jackson (L), Brad Mills cut the ribbon.
Boston Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino came to Dana-Farber expecting to celebrate the Dana-Farber's new Boston Red Sox Jimmy Fund Gallery on Dana L1 and spread some holiday cheer to pediatric and adult patients. What he didn't anticipate was coming face-to-face with the nurse who had cared for him during his own cancer fight 20 years earlier.
But as Lucchino and members of the Red Sox team and coaching staff were visiting patients and family members inside the Dana 1 infusion area, a voice called out to him: "Do you remember M.J.?" He looked up, and there she was — Mary Jean "M.J." Tomovick, RN, BSN, who Lucchino says "was a rock for me" when he was treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1985-86. Tomovick recalls being thrilled when her former patient took the helm of the Sox in 2002, but this is the first time they had crossed paths in nearly two decades.
"It was wonderful to see him," said Tomovick, her eyes tearing up during the brief reunion. "I've followed his career from Baltimore to San Diego, and of course to Boston, but this was a total surprise."
Patient Krista Rameriz gets a visit from Red Sox players and coaches, from left to right, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Delcarmen, Ron Jackson, Brad Mills, Adam Stern, Craig Hansen, and mascot Wally the Green Monster.
The chance meeting was a perfect ending to the Dec. 8 morning that celebrated the unique 52-year relationship between Boston's baseball team and Dana-Farber. The gallery that Lucchino and DFCI President Edward J. Benz Jr., MD, dedicated in a ribbon cutting ceremony includes a timeline that traces the history of Dana-Farber back to its 1947 founding and the establishment of its Jimmy Fund charitable arm a year later.
Designed by Cambridge-based Jon Roll & Associates and fabricated and installed by Proforma Imaging Products of Manchester, Mass. — with a big assist from the Dana-Farber's Maintenance staff — the gallery gives onlookers a chance to feel they are standing in the Fenway Park home of the Red Sox. Wall-sized photos depict the park's playing field and stands, and two actual grandstand seats sit in one corner. A portrait of Fenway's "Green Monster" left-field wall with its prominent Jimmy Fund logo appropriately holds center stage; the Red Sox took on the Jimmy Fund as their official charity in 1953, and have since helped raise countless millions for the cause.
It was more of the same on this day, as uniformed players Kevin Youkilis, Manny Delcarmen, Adam Stern, and Craig Hansen, coaches Brad Mills and Ron Jackson, and mascot Wally the Green Monster shook hands and signed autographs in the gallery and later in the Dana 1 infusion area and in the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
Thirteen-year-old Jimmy Collins from East Longmeadow, a Jimmy Fund Clinic patient, was heading to the Cable cafeteria for breakfast with his parents when he just happened upon the celebrity contingent. The next thing he knew he was getting a replica 2004 World Series ring from Lucchino and high-fives from Wally as TV cameras whirred.
"All my friends are Red Sox fans like me, so they're going to think this is pretty cool," said Collins looking down at his ring and autographs, to which his mother, Beth Collins added, "It's hard coming in for treatment, but something like this makes all the difference in the world."
In a speech opening the gallery, Benz stated "The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber could not do what we've done without the Red Sox." Later, Delcarmen — a Boston native — acknowledged that the benefits work both ways. "I probably sat in every seat in Fenway growing up, so I know all about this place. As much as it means to the kids and adults we visit, it means a lot to us, too."
