June 21, 2007
Rosie Lonborg helps fight cancer, one drawing at a time
Wife of Red Sox hero has her own young fans in Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic
In the Jimmy Fund Clinic playroom, Rosie admires Dario Deane's latest artistic masterpiece. (Sam Ogden photo)
A hospital is the last place you'd expect a kid would want to be on a Wednesday morning, but ask Jennifer Deane how much trouble she has getting her 4-year-old son Dario to come to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and she just laughs. "He loves coming here," she says of Dario's weekly visits to Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic for leukemia treatment. "Most of the time we're there for breakfast." Fellow parent Paula D'Ercole agrees: "My son Stephen is usually done with his treatment by 1 or 1:30, but he always begs me to stay. I figure he's had his medicine, so why not let him have some fun?"
It sounds hard to believe, but fun is just what Dario, Stephen, and numerous other pediatric patients have each week when they come to the clinic for chemotherapy, shots, blood checks, and other treatment. The medical procedures, of course, are not enjoyable at all, but the painting, crafts, story telling, game-playing, and other activities they enjoy during their "down time" in the clinic's playroom is a blast thanks in large part to one person — activities assistant Rosemary Lonborg.
In 2004, the Lonborgs accepted the Thomas A. and Jean R. Yawkey Award for dedication to the Jimmy Fund from Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino, as Jimmy Fund Chairman (and Jim's Sox teammate) Mike Andrews looked on.
If Lonborg's name sounds familiar to many Red Sox fans, it should. Her husband, Jim, won the American League's Cy Young Award 40 years ago this summer when he pitched the Sox to an improbable "Impossible Dream" American League championship, then followed it up with two stellar performances in the World Series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. Jim Lonborg is a legend in Red Sox Nation, but most of the kids who spend time with "Rosie" — and many of their young parents — have no idea that her spouse is in the team's Hall of Fame. She doesn't often bring it up, and besides, she's the reason they come running into the brightly colored, toy-filled clinic each week.
"When you're in this situation, getting cancer treatment, it's not like a doctor's office you're going to once a year," says Susanne Conley, RN, MSN, CPON, program manager in the Jimmy Fund Clinic. "You're here week after week, and having somebody who knows you and wants to play with you means a lot. She makes it a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Her smile doesn't mean a medication or treatment is coming, it means this is a safe place."
Dana-Farber has designed its primary care model for pediatric patients so that each child comes for treatment on the same day each week — and is thus paired with a consistent group of doctors, nurses, psychosocial specialists, and other staff. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, the "play lady" who keeps them happy between the pokes and prods is the much-loved Activities Coordinator Lisa Scherber, who has filled the role for more than 15 years. On Wednesdays it's Lonborg, who began volunteering at the clinic 18 years ago and joined the staff in the late 1990s.
"I lost a very, very close friend to cancer," Lonborg says of how she first became a member of the clinic's volunteer corps. "I had taken him in for radiation every Tuesday for several years, and when he passed away I felt this void in my Tuesdays. Somebody suggested I give Dana-Farber a call because of its relationship with the Red Sox [the Jimmy Fund has been one of the team's official charities since 1953], and I started coming in on Tuesdays as a volunteer. I used to put my kids on the school bus, dash into town, and then run back out to pick them up at the bus. Now, all these years later, my kids are grown up and I can stay later in the day here. I love art and I love playing, so it's always been a very natural thing for me."
The role is about more than just play, however. Scherber, Lonborg, and a dedicated group of clinic volunteers often find themselves offering a calming presence or a warm word to parents, siblings, and other family members. "The families who work with Rosie can see her compassion — it shines through her," says Scherber. "It's evident how much she loves being here and wants to give families a good experience while they are undergoing something so terrible. Wednesday families know they're going to get her love, and it makes their days that much brighter."
One of Rosie's earliest patients friendships was formed with Uri Berenguer-Ramos, who has grown up to become the Red Sox' leading Spanish radio broadcaster. (Justin Knight photo)
Nurses and specialists affiliated with the clinic are also quick to praise Lonborg's skills. "Generally our kiddos get an MRI in the morning [at Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber's partner in pediatric oncology], then come over to Dana-Farber in the afternoon for a visit with their multidisciplinary care team," says Abby Williams, clinic coordinator for Dana-Farber's brain tumor clinic — which is held each Wednesday. "Rosie is wonderful at helping us get kids the time they need to decompress between appointments, or can jump in if there are adult conversations that caregivers and parents need to have. She's a real relief to all of us."
Decades of dedication
Even before she was Mrs. Lonborg, Rosie had a rather unique connection to the Impossible Dream Red Sox. A New Jersey native, she was a high school senior when she came to Boston in the fall of 1967 to visit Garland Junior College, then located in Kenmore Square. She and her mother stayed in the Somerset Hotel just down the street from Fenway Park, and were kept awake as fans partied late into the night on Oct. 1 following her future husband's pennant-clinching victory over the Minnesota Twins. "There were guys going up and down the elevators with pitchers of martinis," Jim jokes today, "and she thought that if Boston always partied like that on Sunday nights, she wanted to go to school here."
She did, and three years later the couple met at the opening of a social club (she was a hostess, he and teammate Ken Brett were celebrity attendees). They married in November 1970, bought a home in Scituate, and raised six children. Although the family had to pull up roots in the mid-1970s after Jim's trades to Milwaukee and then Philadelphia, they were soon back in Scituate to stay as he pursued his second career as a dentist — which continues today with a private practice in nearby Hanover.
During the 1980s, after Jim's former Red Sox teammate Mike Andrews became chairman of the Jimmy Fund, the Lonborgs became active with the Dana-Farber charity by attending and helping out at ski weekends, golf tournaments, and other fundraisers. The warmth Rosie displayed at these events — especially toward the young cancer patients who were often also on hand — made a lasting impression on Andrews and Jimmy Fund Director Suzanne Fountain. In 2004, as thanks for their dedication to the cause (including Rosie's work in the clinic), the Lonborgs were honored with the Thomas A. and Jean R. Yawkey Memorial Award, the Jimmy Fund's highest honor.
"To get the Yawkey Award with Jim on the field at Fenway Park, where he played, with all our children in the stands watching, was a very proud moment," Lonborg recalls. "I've never done this for any other reason but love and the thankfulness I have in my heart for the life I've been gifted with, but that was very cool."
Wonder Woman
Soon to celebrate her 37th anniversary, and with two grandkids added to her large family, Rosie is in no rush to settle down or stop giving to others. In addition to her work at Dana-Farber and support for other causes including cystic fibrosis, she has started up an outreach program with two friends that provides financial assistance to women going through cancer treatment. "It's called Learn, Live, Love," she says, "and I'm so excited by how much it's growing. Last year we helped 15 women — we've bought wigs, paid off a mortgage, helped with babysitting costs, you name it. We've raised close to $40,000 this year already, and every dime goes to women in need." (The program, not affiliated with Dana-Farber, can be found at www.learnlivelove.org.)
She's even found time to write a children's book, entitled The Quiet Hero: A Baseball Story, which discusses good sportsmanship through the lens of conversations between her husband and sons. "As long as I've known Rosie, she's always had a special place in her heart and spirit to give to her family, friends, and community some kind of help, consolation, advice, joy, and caring," says Jim Lonborg. "She has a special gift of kindness."
And nowhere is this kindness more easily visible than in the Jimmy Fund Clinic, where kids hands-deep in paint and sparkles crowd around her each week. She has breakfast with early arrivals, will take an hour to carefully recreate a picture of Wonder Woman from a comic book so a young friend can color it in, and often sits and talk with kids getting chemotherapy infusions in private rooms.
"Rosie, did your husband really play for the Red Sox?" shouts out Dario Deane upon hearing this information from a visitor. She smiles and offers back, "Yeah, Dario, I'll tell you all about it sometime." But first she's got another snowman to help paint.
"Clinic isn't scary," says Dario when asked what he likes most about the play lady. "Rosie makes it fun."
— Saul Wisnia
saul_wisnia@dfci.harvard.edu
This story originally appeared in the third edition of Red Sox Magazine, published in June 2007 and sold inside Fenway Park.
