Multiple Guests

• How the Jimmy Fund got started - with a young boy named Einar (4:47)
• What it's like to visit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (20:54)
• Why World Series Champion Brock Holt continues to serve The Jimmy Fund, even after retirement (20:27)
• The touching ways Brock connected with young cancer patients during a game (22:27)
• What Brock and Jimmy Fund VP Caitlin Fink have learned from Dana-Farber patients (24:54)

FRANK BLAKE: Caitlin and Brock, welcome to Crazy Good Turns. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for what you do.

And I'd like to start out by just asking each of you, introduce yourselves to our listeners.

BROCK HOLT: My name's Brock Holt, former major league baseball player, most notably with the Boston Red Sox and now very honored to be a co-chair of the Jimmy Fund with NESN broadcaster, Tom Caron.

I'm a dad, dad first, husband second, and everything else after that.

CAITLIN FINK: Caitlin Fink, I'm vice president of the Jimmy Fund. I have been here at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund for over 20 years.

And it has been a privilege and an honor to be able to grow my career here at one organization and be able to see the impact that the Jimmy Fund community can have on cancer care and research, not just here in Boston, but really throughout New England and even worldwide.

FRANK BLAKE: All right. So I grew up in Boston and I am very familiar with the Jimmy Fund, but I suspect that many in our audience might not be.

So let me start by asking the backstory of the Jimmy Fund in your own words?

CAITLIN FINK: The Jimmy Fund started back in 1948, so in '47, Sidney Farber was doing research on pediatric cancer at the Children's Cancer Research Foundation.

And the following year he had a patient named Einar Gustafson, who we dubbed Jimmy to protect his identity.

Ralph Edwards did a national radio program called Truth and Consequences, and he broadcasted live from Jimmy's bedside.

Jimmy was a huge Boston Braves fan, and so Ralph had members of the Boston Braves team come and visit Jimmy at the hospital.

FRANK BLAKE: Time out, for those of our listeners ... So I come from Boston, I was alive during this period of time and people may not remember that what are now, the Atlanta Braves, actually started out in Boston.

They were the Boston Braves, and then they went to Milwaukee and then they came to Atlanta.

CAITLIN FINK: That's right. That's right.

So it was Jimmy's favorite team, and at the end of this radio broadcast, there was a call to action out to the listeners to say, "Hey, send your money in.

Our goal here is to buy Jimmy a TV set so he can watch his favorite team from his hospital room."

And the money just started pouring in. $200,000 was raised, and this is in 1948.

FRANK BLAKE: A lot of money in 1948.

CAITLIN FINK: A lot of money. A lot of money. And that's how the Jimmy Fund was born.

And so for the past 75 years, it's been all about communities coming together and raising these critical funds that are making a difference for both patient care as well as the research happening here at Dana-Farber.

So to me, when I think about the Jimmy Fund, the first word that comes to mind is community. It's about the power of the masses coming together and what groups can do and how we can rally groups around a single cause.

FRANK BLAKE: And I'm curious, Brock, you're from Texas, right?, and I'm thinking you didn't grow up hearing about the Jimmy Fund.

How did you become aware of it?

BROCK HOLT: Yeah. Like you said, growing up in Texas didn't ... Obviously now know all the history behind it, but I was introduced to the Jimmy Fund my first spring training.

I got traded to the Red Sox off-season of 2012. So 2013 was my first spring training with Boston.

And every year, Lisa Scherber brings down a group of teenagers to spring training to spend a few days down and they'd come to the field and we'd go out and meet them.

They'd come to the game. David Ross, I believe David Ross and Will Middlebrooks were co-captains of the Jimmy Fund that year.

And that was my first introduction is that visit, that team visit there in spring training. I became curious as to what the Jimmy Fund was and what they did.

David Ross was a good leader, not only for us on the field, but also off the field. And I got to learn a little bit about what the Jimmy Fund does and what it means and how the Red Sox and Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund coexist and support each other.

From that moment on, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of.

FRANK BLAKE: What was it that connected with you? What made you want to participate?

BROCK HOLT: I think, like Caitlin said, the community aspect of it. I've always been a fan, like I've always been, loved kids.

So for me, the actual Jimmy Fund clinic where the childhood patients are, that tugged at the heartstrings a little bit.

And I wanted to do anything that I could to help out.

And with the partnership that the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund have, that was something that I could jump right into and know that I was doing something to help other people.

For me, the Jimmy Fund is about the community, but it's also about building relationships.

And I've built a lot of really good relationships over the years with patients, with families, with people that work there.

It's just a special place for me and my wife, Lakyn, and our two boys. We love helping out however we can.

FRANK BLAKE: That's awesome.

Caitlin, maybe again for our listeners, give some background on the relationship between the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Institute.

CAITLIN FINK: Yeah. So it's a great question because a lot of people will think of them as two separate organizations, but they are one in the same.

And so that story of how it all came together, the Jimmy Fund was born out of those donations pouring in.

And it was to support what was then the Children's Cancer Research Foundation.

From there, it became the Sidney Farber Cancer Center. At that point, we started treating both pediatric patients and adult patients.

And then it turned into what we now have the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. And we continue to treat both adult and pediatric patients.

And so when we think about Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, the simplest way to think about it is the Jimmy Fund is that community of grassroots fundraising initiatives that are supporting the work that's happening at Dana-Farber.

So they are always together, they are always connected. It is one organization.

FRANK BLAKE: And Dr. Farber who was originally involved here is a giant figure in the field of cancer research and clinical work on cancer.

CAITLIN FINK: Yeah.

Absolutely. So "Jimmy," Einar Gustafson, was a lymphoma patient.

For years, nobody knew what happened to Jimmy. We assumed he had passed away.

And in the '90s he came back and he reintroduced himself to Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund. He said, "I'm Jimmy."

He had the original Boston Braves uniform that the team had given him. He had saved it all those years.

And he was a grown man. He was a grandfather and living up in Maine.

And he came back to the Jimmy Fund and started telling his story and supporting us until he passed away of nothing to do with cancer.

And that was because of the work that Sidney Farber was doing. He really made life-saving advancements within the pediatric cancer realm.

And we continue to build off of that progress today.

FRANK BLAKE: So when I was growing up, I remember if you went to a movie theater in the Boston area, they would have a reel in intermission that would raise money for the Jimmy Fund.

People would come around, the Jimmy Fund with a tin can, and that literally raise money during the movie.

I'm curious, how much money over time has the Jimmy Fund raised and what do you all do now that maintains that level of community involvement?

CAITLIN FINK: Yeah. Hundreds of millions of dollars.

We're raising a hundred million dollars a year at this point under that Jimmy Fund umbrella, and that's coming in from about a hundred thousand donors each year.

So again, that community, that power of the masses, it's what's driving this progress forward.

And what I love about the Jimmy Fund is no matter your interests, your passions, your age, where you live, you can get involved.

We have so many different events and programs and ways to connect with Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund.

Brock is a part of our annual The WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon every August.

It's a two-day broadcast that highlights the work that's happening at Dana-Farber.

EEI and NESN, they donate the airwaves for those two days, and we're hearing from patients, doctors, researchers, nurses, family members.

And it's such an incredible way to hear firsthand the impact of the donations you're sending in.

And those donations are ranging anywhere from a dollar to last year we had an incredible $750,000 gift.

So $4 million is pouring in from tens of thousands of people over those two days and I think that that just is such a testament to the incredible partnerships that we have.

This event is held at Fenway Park.

We are able to do it because of that Red Sox partnership as well as our corporate partnerships and then our partnerships with Red Sox players like Brock and with Tom Holt and with all of our fabulous supporters.

So that's a great event for your listeners to tune into if they want to hear more about the impact of supporting Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund.

But we also have a walk every fall. It's the longest, most successful single day walk in the country.

And then we have a community that's putting their own events on.

So we have everything from lemonade stands to big dinners and galas, and these volunteers are putting these events on our behalf.

So there's really something for everyone.

FRANK BLAKE: I think Brock, I read that you and your wife did a marathon to raise money.

BROCK HOLT: We did. We did. Yes. We did. Unfortunately, that that is correct.

FRANK BLAKE: Why you say unfortunately?

BROCK HOLT: Well, because I had to run a marathon to do it.

So no, for us Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund has meant so much to us, and I tell everyone everything happens for a reason.

And whenever I got traded to Boston, I was in a good position with Pittsburgh. I didn't know what getting traded to the Red Sox would mean.

There were some big name guys ahead of me that played my positions.

So career wise it at the time didn't seem like a great move for me.

But now that we're past it and looking back, it ended up being a great career move.

But I honestly believe that I got traded to the Boston Red Sox to be involved this organization, and I truly believe that.

I was very fortunate to play on some really good teams.

FRANK BLAKE: You were. You played on some great teams.

BROCK HOLT: I have two World Series rings because of it.

I have some of my best friends to this day, but I honestly believe that I was meant to be in Boston to be involved with Dana-Farber and then Jimmy Fund.

Me and my wife, we did so much work when we were up there. Once I signed with Milwaukee and then Texas in '21, my love for the organization didn't go away and I still wanted to be able to help.

We were just sitting around the house talking one day and we were like, "Hey, what if we run the marathon for Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund?"

And I think it started out as a joke, and then it turned into a serious thing. And then I happened to announce it, I think at the telethon.

We ran it in 2023, so I announced it on TV.

FRANK BLAKE: Congratulations.

BROCK HOLT: Yeah. So then we had to do it.

FRANK BLAKE: Yeah. Yeah. Threw the wallet in the middle of the road.

BROCK HOLT: Yeah. We had to do it. I think Lakyn, she was sitting there behind the cameras and I said it and she was like, "Oh no. That means we're really having to do it."

But it was a great day. Something that we'll never forget. And just the support ... It's crazy from start to finish in the marathon, the support that you feel from everyone is a great feeling.

It honestly gets you to the finish line.

And I feel like that support is what we feel at the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber and with the work that we're trying to do and raise money ...

Like Caitlin said, I'll second the telethon. The telethon is a tremendous two days.

And you get to hear stories from patients, to parents of kids, to family members, to doctors, to researchers, and you really get to understand about where your money is going and what it's helping do.

And we're trying to raise as much as we can to help as many people as we can. And hopefully one day we can solve this cancer thing.

Everyone's been affected by it and we're just trying to do what we can to help those people out.

FRANK BLAKE: So I'm sure both of you have spent time visiting with patients and interacting with them.

Do you have a favorite memory from that or a patient who particularly stands out?

CAITLIN FINK: There's so many over the years. I think the patients are really at the heart of every decision that is made here at Dana-Farber.

And you see it from the moment you drive up. People will talk about the valets as they arrive, being so kind and warm and just setting the tone for the first moment you step out of your car and head into Dana-Farber.

And I think that that sets the stage for the experience that they're going to have.

And because of that, the patients are really open and they are trusting us with so much, and you're able to form such incredible relationships with them because of that.

So I don't know that there's one that stands out to me in particular because they're all so special and they all take the experience that they're having.

And it's amazing that they can turn what everyone would see as the most horrible moment in someone's life and turn it into something good.

To turn around and start a walk team. To turn around and share their story on the radio telethon.

To start a golf tournament in memory of a parent.

The incredible sense of almost pride and commitment to Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund from every patient, every family member you meet. It's so inspiring.

And I know Brock has made really, really amazing connections with a lot of the families that he's met over the years.

And I just will also call out because Brock will be humble in this regard, but he and Lakyn were here with the boys last week for our annual Scooper Bowl, which is an all-you-can-eat ice cream festival.

And I think Brock and Lakyn are teaching their boys the power of community and the power of what they can do and the difference they can make.

And so much of that is really setting up that next generation of supporters to continue the incredible work of the Jimmy Fund that's been happening for so many years.

So kudos to Brock and Lakyn for all that they're doing with their boys as well.

BROCK HOLT: Thank you, Caitlin. That yeah, that means a lot.

We want our boys to know that they can impact people's lives and help out in a positive way.

I think they had a blast at the Scooper Bowl. Obviously you get to eat ice cream.

I think they made some good memories. And Griff has a new friend on Fortnite that he met at the clinic.

So for me, I have fortunately been able to build ... Like I said earlier in the podcast, that the relationships are an important part to me.

I've gotten to know and build really good relationships with some of the kids that I've met at the clinic and their families.

FaceTime with them, talk to them frequently. We actually, the Holts go on a ski trip every year up to Stowe with the Clarks who we've met through the Jimmy Fund.

We stay with them every year.

So like Caitlin said, when you go visit the patients ...

Obviously when you go to the clinic and you talk to the kids, it's more about just like we're talking video games, we're doing crafts, we're trying to figure out how to get their mind off of what they're going through.

But if you go and visit the adult patients and you really listen to them talk ... Obviously we're just there to see how they're doing and how's it going.

I'm amazed every time that without asking, they just talk about how great Dana-Farber is and the doctors and the nurses.

I think it's just a culture that they built there where it's positivity and it's positivity from bottom to top. And everyone just talks about how great their time has been, how they build a plan out for the patient, they let them know what's going on, how we're going to help.

And I haven't met a person that had one negative thing to say about the organization.

Everyone's like, "If I wouldn't have come here, I don't know if I'd be here."

So much positivity coming out of a place that you would think there would be the opposite.

People are going through the worst times in their life and trying to fight a disease that everyone's been affected by, but nobody wants to go through the things that they're going through.

And there's just so much light, so much positivity in that building, and it's a joy to experience and to be a part of.

FRANK BLAKE: All right Brock, this is an odd question that I'm curious about.

Do you ever get requests from the kids or adults that you make a hit in a specific game? A Babe Ruth type requests that you have to deal with?

Did that happen to you?

BROCK HOLT: There were times when I was playing where stuff like that would happen.

I still talk to ... He's one of my favorite people I've ever met, but his name is James and he's a jokester.

I would see him in the clinic or something after a game where I didn't play that well.

And he would look at me, he would go, Brock, you didn't hit very good last night, or you guys didn't score very many runs.

There were definitely times when that would happen.

Kids would have bracelets or families would have bracelets, and we'd wear the bracelets during the game.

I'd be like, "Hey, I'm going to wear this tonight. Make sure you watch."

I wrote James's name and my buddy Nixon, who I go skiing with every year up in Stowe, I wrote their names on my batting gloves during the postseason in 2018, so they could watch and see their names on my batting gloves when I was hitting.

And fortunately, I had a good game I hit for the cycle in 2018 in the ALCS against the Yankees.

And those gloves are now in Cooperstown.

FRANK BLAKE: That counts as more than a good game.

BROCK HOLT: Yeah. It was a great game. Red Sox won. We played well.

But those batting gloves with the boys' names on it are in Cooperstown.

FRANK BLAKE: Oh, that's amazing. That's pretty cool.

BROCK HOLT: Yeah. So we actually went to Cooperstown for my boys' fall break, and I've never been to Cooperstown before.

And they pulled the gloves out and they took my helmet and my batting gloves and they pulled them out and showed us.

Very cool that those are there now. But yeah, things like that happen, but not too often.

So we would have a good time with it though.

FRANK BLAKE: That's very special. That's amazing. That's a great story.

All right. What have you learned about resilience as you've been around these kids and adults?

BROCK HOLT: Oh, man. For me, you really see how strong people really are. Especially kids.

I was involved in the Jimmy Fund prior to being a dad, and after we had Griff in 2016, it really hit home because we would go and visit and there would be kids Griff's age in there.

Little babies. And you can't really put yourself in those shoes. It puts things into perspective.

And you see these kids now healthy and thriving.

One of the kids that I built a relationship, he's Griff's age, his name's Will. And he's playing hockey now. He's playing hockey.

He's a big hockey star, skating around, playing baseball, doing all the things. Whenever he was one, two years old, he was going through treatment and his parents are …

They're just unbelievable people. And you learn how strong the human body really is and the human mind.

It's an amazing thing to see and it's something that you never want to see anyone go through.

But the work that Dana-Farber and Jimmy Fund are doing is so incredible.

I truly feel that they make those toughest times in these people's lives a positive.

They give them the things that they need in order to get through those tough times. It's the best place in the world.

I've heard it described as the best place in the world you never want to be and I truly believe that. They're doing so much good work.

And like I said, it's an honor to be back involved and be able to help out however we can.

FRANK BLAKE: Question for both of you.

Was there a time when you looked around and it clicked and you say, "This is why I'm doing this"?

BROCK HOLT: I feel like that happens every time I go and visit and every time I'm around, the people involved in the events and the people who come to raise money.

I think it happens every time. It's just, you look around and you see everyone ...

It's cliche to say, but everyone's pulling on the same rope and we're trying to do the same things.

And there's just so much positivity involved in every aspect of this organization that it happens frequently.

CAITLIN FINK: All the time. All the time. It's the small stories that donors will share, the importance of the little things that just stick out.

Again, it's a gift to work here because those instances happen on a daily basis.

FRANK BLAKE: So I ask everyone who appears on Crazy Good Turns, so I ask each of you, who has done a crazy good turn for you in your life?

Not necessarily related to the Jimmy Fund, just in your life, who's done a crazy good turn for you. Caitlin, start with you.

CAITLIN FINK: Yeah. So I come from a family that has a long history of cancer, a lot of cancer in the family.

And growing up, my mom would always say, "Someday, Caitlin, you're going to find a cure for cancer."

I definitely wasn't going the science route, wasn't going to become a doctor, but she just inspired me throughout my youth and as I was growing up and as started this career at Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, she's just been my biggest supporter and has always been so proud of the work that I'm doing here and believes that I am doing what she told me I would do as a kid, finding a cure for cancer.

So I think my mom set the stage for everything that I've been able to accomplish.

FRANK BLAKE: That's awesome. That's great. A crazy good turn.

BROCK HOLT: Crazy good turn for me, I can't not mention one of my junior college baseball coaches, his name is Derwood Penny, but we called him Pops.

He's since passed away. But one of the nicest men I've ever met.

Everyone that went to Navarro Junior College knows who Pops is, and just a positive influence that rooted for everyone.

And I think at that time in my life, my first couple years away at school, he was that positive influence to keep me focused on what I wanted to do, which was play, continue to play baseball and better my baseball career.

And I kept in touch with him my entire baseball career.

He would call me after games, we'd talk, he'd text me. Just a man who positively impacted my life and that I will always remember.

I wrote number 26 on the dirt before every at bat. His number was 26.

I have a tattoo now with 26 with a little halo over it and every time I see it, I think of him.

So just a guy who on this earth to impact people's lives and he impacted mine in such a positive way and helped me grow as a man in those first couple of years of college and helped me with baseball, helped me with life, showed me what true love could really do in a relationship with people.

He's a special person and I was very lucky to get to know him and be so close to him.

FRANK BLAKE: Well, thank you and thank both of you.

Thank you for the crazy good turns you're doing for kids and adults with cancer and just the way both of you are giving back. It's terrific.

As you started, Brock, we all know so many everybody, this disease has touched everyone.

And so the work you're doing is incredibly important and thank you for it.

CAITLIN FINK: Thanks, Frank. Thanks so much for having us on.

This has been our pleasure and we really appreciate the opportunity to be able to share all of the great work and more importantly, all of the great people that we get to work with.

BROCK HOLT: Yes. Thank you so much, Frank. This has been great.

It's the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber. They do great work.

And I think me and Caitlin, we're both very fortunate to be in the positions we are and get to work with the people that we get to work with and be around the people.

A lot of positivity. A lot of positivity, and we're trying to keep it going.

And a lot of people before us that were in our shoes and we're just trying to carry the torch and do what we can.

FRANK BLAKE: Perfect. And final thing, Caitlin, maybe tell our audience what they can do if they want to learn more about the Jimmy Fund and if they want to contribute.

CAITLIN FINK: Absolutely. Yeah. Definitely go online, jimmyfund.org.

You're going to find everything you need to know. You can read more about the history of Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, our history with the Red Sox.

You can make a donation.

You can learn how to get involved with our hundreds of events throughout the year, volunteer at the events, and just learn more about what we're doing and where it might resonate most with you.

FRANK BLAKE: All right. Perfect. Thank you both very much.