The Official Website of the Washington Redskins
November 25, 2015 [Reprinted by J. Adams, the DeSean Jackson Foundation, 11/26/2015.]
Andrew Walker
Managing Editor
Redskins.com
@Redskins
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Gayle Jackson, Dr. Ralph H. Hruban, DeSean Jackson
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Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson continued his mission of finding a cure for pancreatic cancer on Wednesday when he donated $10,000 to to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
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DeSean Jackson’s world was turned upside down in 2009 when his father, William Jackson, one of the major driving forces throughout his life and his athletic career, passed away after a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
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But Jackson, at the time already a star receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles, knew he had the platform as a professional athlete to raise awareness — as well as funds – to find a cure for this terrible disease that affects more than 48,000 Americans a year.
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Through his own DeSean Jackson Foundation, Jackson’s mission continued on Wednesday, when he presented a purple check – the color known worldwide for pancreatic cancer awareness – for $10,000 to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to assist in the fight to stop pancreatic cancer.
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Jackson presented the check with his mother, Gayle “Mama Gee”, to Dr. Ralph H. Hruban, a professor of Pathology and oncology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, in a ceremony at Redskins Park in Loudoun County, Va.
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Gayle Jackson, President, and DeSean Jackson, CEO
“It’s definitely a tough fight, and we watched my dad battle it for five months – and he was very strong and he did everything in his mighty power to do what he did to fight that battle,” Jackson said. “But it’s more than that, we need doctors like Mr. Hruban, we need researchers, we need everybody to come together.”
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Dr. Hruban, who is also the director of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, knows how valuable each and every cent is to ultimately finding a cure for the disease. “The loss of one mother, one father, one brother, one sister is too many,” he said. “I look forward to an early diagnosis and cure testing, thanks to DeSean’s help.”
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Jackson has already firmly entrenched himself in the Washington, D.C., community since signing as a free agent during the 2014 off season.His two primary missions are to find a cure for pancreatic cancer, as well as to put a stop to bullying
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“I’ve been doing this going on eight years and it’s something I love to do, I’m never forced to do it,” Jackson told Redskins.com at his anti-bullying event at J.O. Wilson Elementary School in Washington, D.C., in April. “I feel like I can relate to them. I’m not the biggest guy out there but I play a big man’s game. So I want to be able to come and just relate to them.”
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In June, he had a star-studded lineup out for his inaugural DeSean Jackson Celebrity Golf Tournament held to raise money and awareness for pancreatic cancer and anti-bullying efforts. In attendance at The Golf Club at Lansdowne that day were the likes of boxing legend Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes, actor Pooch Hall, comedian and actor Mike Epps and Jackson’s former teammates LeSean McVoy and Michael Vick.
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“Losing my dad to pancreatic cancer, it’s one of those things where in life you go through certain situations,” Jackson told Redskins.com at the event. “And I (wanted) to support this cause and find a way to really just try to raise money and try to get people to understand that this is a deadly disease.”
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For more information about the DeSean Jackson Foundation’s initiatives, visit DeSeanJacksonFoundation.org.
DeSean Jackson Foundation 