GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Sunday’s game between the Packers and the Bengals was also the first game of October, where the NFL promotes “Crucial Catch Intercept Cancer.”
The Green Bay Packers are partnering with the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation again for their annual initiative that brings awareness to the more than 100 types of cancer and encourages fans to do an early screening.
In this nearly decade long initiative, the Packers recognize roughly a hundred cancer survivors from around Wisconsin during halftime, with the help of the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.
On Sunday, Mason MacNeil soaked in the cheers from more than 78,000 fans.
“I was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer at 19 years old,” said MacNeil.
Hodgkin Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects a part of the body’s immune system.
“For the longest time I put off my symptoms as, like, ignorance of blaming it on my outside job. Doing other things. I was like, I don’t think this is anything. But soon I go on and find out the news, and everything’s changed,” said Mason.
Ann Marie Moss, Executive Director of the Foundation, says hearing something like this isn’t uncommon.
“Early screening can be intimidating. People often don’t know what to expect, and I think that’s the biggest barrier,” said Ann.
Moss shared her experience on why visiting the doctor is crucial to catching this deadly disease early.
“My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer right before I took this job,” said Moss. “So, she found it early because of screening. Why we’re here today. To encourage early screening. Had she not, who knows what would’ve happened.”
The foundation is working with the team to do just that with selling hats, where five dollars go towards cancer research.
Before the game, the team also handed out Packers vs Cancer bandanas, encouraging fans to join the fight against this deadly disease while supporting their team at the same time. MacNeil watched those flags fly just one year after being diagnosed.
“One day, I was just a normal healthy kid, and the next we were in the ER finding out the news. So just growing from this has been a very building experience of trying to figure out what to do next and how we’re going to go about it. And here I am today and I’m very thankful to be here today,” MacNeil said.
If you’d like to donate to the foundation’s cause, [**click here**](https://www.lombardifoundation.org/).
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