Chicago Cubs: Jon Lester nominated for Roberto Clemente Award

Chicago Cubs Jon Lester is a man of few words. But what he does is more important than what he says as the nomination for the Roberto Clemente Award.

The Chicago Cubs Jon Lester has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award which is given to the player who ‘best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team’ as voted by the fans and members of the media. Lester gets my vote as long as he’s a Cub.

He, along with his wife Farrah started the NVRQT foundation in 2012. Since then, he’s chatted with kids diagnosed with cancer, signed autographs and taken pictures with them. They’ve also started an annual signature event, which last years was ‘NVRQT Goes Country.’ It was a huge success for Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) and the NVRQT foundation.

I have brain cancer, and I’m 40. But Lester reached out to me, proving that all cancer survivors stick together no matter what form of cancer they have. I have a damn near-fatal cancer, a Glioblastoma, which can grow back anywhere in the brain. So while it’s relegated to there, it’s my brain. Can’t win for losing, am I right?

Lester and his wife have done so much for cancer research, as well as mentoring Anthony Rizzo when he had cancer. Back when Rizzo was a ‘young buck’ and Lester was a seasoned veteran in Boston. Lester took him under his wing, let him know it was going to be hard but was all going to be worth it in the end. By chance, they ended up in the same place? I don’t think it was by chance.

I go in for a resection this Friday. I didn’t know what they did the first time because it was to save my life. I was unaware I had cancer. All I knew? High-blood pressure. Boy, that escalated quickly. High-blood pressure to a GBM (Glioblastoma.)

This time, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. The surgery. How I’d be after it. If I could even write after I had the surgery done. Would I walk with a limp, or could I walk at all? A lot of ‘what ifs.’

But I’m #BlazekStrong, and I #NVRQT. And I got my wife and my little girl (nine months old) who I’m definitely walking down the aisle.