I wrote a blog two weeks ago celebrating Wade Boggs cancer remission and I wanted to follow up with this video of him ringing the cancer bell because I love Wade Boggs.
Enough to go back-to-back Red Sox blogs without really thinking about it?
Maybe not.
But cancer fucking blows and watching a loved one ring the bell is one of the most emotional moments you can experience. Especially if you’ve watched that loved one drive themself to radiation in complete secrecy for 3 months because they don’t want to endure the social-cost of being a cancer patient during a career year.
Promise me you won’t tell anyone I have cancer
What if you die?
Then you can tell people it was my time
That was a heavy moment and probably why I’m so positively drawn to ringing the bell. If you have any personal experience yourself then you know exactly what I mean.
One time I was sitting at Northwestern waiting for my friend’s radiation treatment to end. I got a DM later that day from someone who listened to Red Line Radio. He saw me in the lobby while accompanying his mom to her chemo treatments. He messaged to say that he saved Red Line Radio each week for the hour in the waiting room because it was his favorite show and the best distraction in those moments from his mom’s cancer diagnosis. And in reflection, I think that’s just about the hardest I’ve ever cried as an adult?
The only other competition I can think of is the time I got locked in a janitor’s closet in Las Vegas during an active shooter situation at the Cosmopolitan where some guy got killed by the blackjack tables. That’s one of the craziest stories of my life because I thought I was going to die execution style with a group of Philippine women. We survived and became Facebook friends but it definitely scared me so bad that I had a full on breakdown with my wife once we got to safety.
Anyways I don’t need to marinate in the sad times to enjoy Wade Boggs remission announcement. I just want to get some stuff off my chest about being emotional as an adult because this is some emotional shit and getting emotional is okay. And unfortunately we need to remind ourselves as dudes that it’s okay to work through stuff because that’s a totally normal part of life.
So that’s what I’m doing, and I just wanted to say congrats to Wade Boggs on being cancer free and ringing the bell.
Congrats to Wade Boggs
Hopefully he had a great chicken and 73 cold millers to celebrate.