In 2008, an 18 year old minor leaguer in the Red Sox system was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. He sat in a hospital room in Boston with his mother and told her that one day they were going to start a foundation. Ten years later he cut the ribbon on a waiting room named after his family, in a children's cancer center he had given millions of dollars to. Anthony Rizzo was a sixth round pick out of Florida. Nineteen games into his second professional season he got the diagnosis. Six months of chemotherapy. He's been in remission since 2008. Then he made the major leagues. He became a three time All-Star and one of the best first basemen in baseball, and in 2016 he caught the final out of the World Series that ended the Chicago Cubs' 108 year drought. And the entire time, he kept the promise he made in that hospital room. For years, Rizzo visited Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago about once a month. Not for cameras. He rarely told the media he was going, because he didn't want the visit to be about him. Then in 2017 his foundation gave the hospital $3.5 million. He was very specific about where it went. Two endowed funds. One pays for oncology Child Life specialists, a role funded entirely by philanthropy. The other gives grants directly to families facing financial hardship, covering things like insurance copays, meals, parking, transportation, rent, utility bills and childcare for siblings. Because Rizzo understands something about pediatric cancer that people who haven't lived it don't. His words: "I believe that an individual does not battle cancer alone. His or her entire family does. That's why we've designated this money to go directly to help families on the front lines." At the ribbon cutting for the waiting room, patients and families lined the hallway holding signs to thank him. He broke down. "I remember sitting with my mom saying we were going to do this ten years ago." And then: "Today was a day when I had flashbacks about sitting in the waiting rooms and going through the treatments and being sick. I don't do that much, but today was one of the days when it got to me." His total giving to that one hospital passed $4 million, and his foundation delivered another $2 million to the same programs the following year. There's one family in particular worth mentioning. The Rizzos helped pay a family's medical bills AND their mortgage when they couldn't make the payments, and sent the mother and her three kids to Disney World. Her assessment of him: for all the kids and families in that hospital, he's far more than an All-Star and a World Series champion. He's someone their kids look up to. He gives them hope. Joe Maddon, his manager, said it best: it's one thing to give money, but he's always there, and he doesn't get enough recognition for it. In 2017 Rizzo won the Roberto Clemente Award, baseball's highest honor for character and community. His message to the kids he visits is four words. Stay strong, dream big. He was one of them. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap