White Sox honor 7-year-old cancer fighter before game originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Over the weekend, the White Sox celebrated Beau Dowling, a 7-year-old fan, by having him hit a Home Run for Life before Saturday’s game against the Orioles.
Dowling was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma as a toddler, and throughout his life has undergone stem cell transplants, radiation therapy and chemotherapy to fight the disease. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for children diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma is 50%, but Dowling hasn’t stopped fighting. Even when he was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Dowling has continued his fight, and recently underwent surgery.
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To honor Dowling, and give him an experience he’ll never forget, the White Sox invited Dowling to “hit a home run” and run the bases. The whole sequence called by White Sox P.A. announcer Gene Honda, and the Orioles and White Sox lined the basepaths to high five Dowling as he ran. Afterwards, Dowling threw out the first pitch and got to show off his cannon of an arm, too.
After the game, Orioles first baseman and fellow cancer survivor Trey Mancini shared his message to Dowling that day.
“I wanted to go over there after he ran the bases and just tell him he was awesome,” Mancini said via Nathan Ruiz. “I told him I had cancer two years ago and I’m doing just fine now. I’m doing well, and I know the same thing is going to happen for him, too.”
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