Nearly 500 people, including cancer survivors and their families and doctors and staff from the UConn Health Center, gathered at the Rock Cats Stadium in New Britain on Sunday to celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day. Survivors Day is an annual celebration of life held in hundreds of communities worldwide to honor those who have survived cancer, inspire those recently diagnosed and show support for families touched by cancer. This is the 16th year that the Health Center has sponsored the event.

The festivities got under way midday with opening remarks by Dr. Pramod Srivastava, director of UConn’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Speaking to the spirited crowd gathered under a special canopy erected behind the first base line, Srivastava said that recognizing survivorship is important because surviving cancer is a personal triumph and “because we should never forget that, although survivorship begins at diagnosis, it extends far beyond the last treatment. It extends to the rest of life, because survivors face unique challenges, and we must keep developing new ways to help survivors meet those challenges.”

Before the baseball game, guests enjoyed an abundant barbecue buffet lunch and activities that included photos with UConn’s own Jonathan the husky and the creation of a colorful mural made up of participants’ handprints. The mural will be displayed in the Cancer Center and be used as the cover of the Cancer Center’s cookbook, scheduled for publication early next year. Many guests took the opportunity to create special baseball-themed pins inscribed with their names or years of survivorship. Every patient and former patient attending was automatically entered into a drawing to win one of 25 themed gift baskets created by members of the Health Center community.

At game time, two patients – Vita Ostrowski and Ray Bouchard – each threw out “first” pitches. Survivors and their families joined Jonathan in right field to hold up the Stars and Stripes while West Hartford-based children’s choir, Charisma, sang the national anthem. Douglas Bennett, son of cancer survivor and UConn Health Center staff member Christine Bennett, received a standing ovation for his rendition of “America the Beautiful.” For the rest of the warm Sunday afternoon, everyone relaxed and enjoyed the game, which ended with the hometown team besting the Trenton Thunder 1 to 0.

More than 150 cancer survivors attended the event. Each one has his or her own story to tell. They included:

• Eighty-one-year-old Vita Ostrowski, a long-time nurse and two-time cancer survivor who said, “I’ve always had a love for life, and I always find the humor in the darkest moments.” She looks forward to celebrating her 61st wedding anniversary in the fall.
• Amy Lombardo, the third generation of her family to experience breast cancer, who got through her treatments and their side effects by reminding herself that every step was bringing her closer to putting cancer behind her and getting on with her life.
• Christine Bennett, who discovered through her journey with cancer that she is stronger than she ever imagined and whose strong faith helped her along the way.

Nicole McDermott, administrative program coordinator in the UConn Health Center Breast and Survivorship Program, was a member of the committee that planned the Health Center’s Cancer Survivors Day event. She says, “This day is a reminder that they are doing everything they can every day to fight cancer. It’s a day to celebrate the hard journey they’ve made with family and friends. We are so pleased to give them that opportunity.”

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