After launching his athletic career in the metro while growing up, a Major League Baseball player is now paying it forward.
Brian Duensing’s career started at Millard South High and is currently pitching for the Baltimore Orioles.
He says he's using his platform to help children battling pediatric cancer.
Knox Lewis is the little boy who started it all for us, says Duensing during a Skype interview Friday morning while traveling on the road with his team for an away game.
At only a few months old, doctors diagnosed Lewis with a rare form of childhood cancer.
He later died at 13 months old.
Then there was the story of Jack Hoffman, diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer, and best known for his touchdown in a Huskers Red-White Spring Game in 2013.
The faces of Lewis and Hoffman stay near to Duensing’s heart .both on and off the field.
The pitcher recounts how his month-long T-shirt campaign for pediatric cancer started three years ago.
“My wife looks at me and she's like, 'You have a couple of Team Jacks shirts here.'
"Why don't you try wearing a tee shirt every day for the month of September?”
The first year, Duensing received so many shirts that he had to double-up on some days, even asking other teammates to sport one for the day.
The campaign coincides with pediatric cancer awareness in September.
Every day, Duensing uploads a photo on social media with shirts featuring the faces of children battling cancer and organizations supporting those families.
I'm not doing it for the likes or my personal popularity, he says.
Instead, he's hoping for a response.
Duensing and his wife, Lisa, continue the work all year-long through their foundation, named after the player.
“I'm just trying to reach as many people as possible,” he says. “I mean, we're just trying to get people to donate and raise awareness.”
For those wanting to send shirts to the foundation, the address is: PO Box 314, Elkhorn, NE 68022.
To learn more about the Brian Duensing foundation, click here.
