Did you know Robert Haddad and Toni Choueiri had a competitive streak? – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Did you know Robert Haddad and Toni Choueiri had a competitive streak?

At Pickleball for a Purpose this year, teens from the Jimmy Fund Clinic were excited to meet their heroes, while Dana-Farber physicians were gearing up to defeat them. Head and neck oncologist Robert Haddad and genitourinary oncologist Toni Choueiri took on former New England Patriots players Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman in a game of pickleball.

The physician duo, who once attended the same medical school in Lebanon, are close friends and neighbors in Westwood, Mass., who regularly play pickleball together for exercise and fun. Pickleball for a Purpose, a Jimmy Fund and Gronk Nation Youth Foundation charity event that gives fundraising teams a chance to play against the Super Bowl champions, was a perfect opportunity for the physicians to combine their passions.

‘We love pickleball,’ Haddad said. ‘And we love raising money for cancer research.’

‘It was a perfect fit,’ Choueiri added.

Choueiri and Haddad trained hard while raising $33,951 with a community of family, friends, and oncologists supporting them online.

Their game against Gronk and Edelman was nail-biting. At one point, the physicians, wearing Pan-Mass Challenge tees, were up 9 to 7, before the former footballers came back for an 11 – 9 win. Ultimately though, the games took a backseat to the purpose of the event: to ease the burden of cancer for patients and their families.

‘Philanthropy is instrumental for us in all disease centers,’ Haddad explained. ‘It allows us to pursue outside-the-box projects and get the initial work done before it becomes a bigger project with a drug company, the National Institutes of Health, or National Cancer Institute.’

Rob Ninkovich and Patrick Chung completed a star-studded roster of athletes who came together to raise money for cancer research. They also met with Jimmy Fund Clinic teens, Grady and Maui. Grady, a 13-year-old being treated for adrenoleukodystrophy, a genetic disorder, has a long-standing relationship with Edelman. When Edelman visited Grady in the hospital he gave some impactful advice: ‘Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.’ On the pickleball courts, the catchphrase was proudly printed on the back of Grady’s shirt.

At 16, Maui was nervous about meeting the celebrities. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to say,’ she said, laughing. But it was all smiles and high-fives.

The experience will stick with her. ‘Dana-Farber does so much to make me feel special,’ she said.”

Proceed to video attached to post.
Source: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/LinkedIn

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