Eli Manning has always been one of the good guys. The former New York Giants quarterback is still at it, even while retired.
On Tuesday, Manning surprised a family that had lost its daughter Penny in February after a battle with neuroblastoma.
Cassandra Izquierdo and Jack Lindsay were at the Make-A-Wish in Monroe Township, New Jersey, to present a check for $10,000 to the foundation.
The contribution was made in their daughter’s memory to Tackle Kids Cancer (TKC), a pediatric cancer research and patient care program through the Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health Children’s Cancer Institute, where Penny received treatment and something she wished the family would do.
To their surprise, Manning came out as the check was being presented,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpGf8CVSo1k
“These can be tough moments when you’re dealing with children, pediatric cancer and you’re dealing with Make-A-Wish and you’re giving the last wishes to these kids,” Manning told NJ Advance Media. “But you understand that you are making an impact on these kids and these families. So a lot of times you hear the stories after from the parents or from the kid that it did lift their spirits a little bit
“Seeing kids go through the chemotherapy and now come out of it better and back home with their family, back in school,” Manning said, “you see the great work that the research does, that the trials do and that that money is going to good use.”
Expect to see Manning back in a role with the Giants in 2021. It doesn’t sound like he will be a coach or in the front office, more like an ambassador.
“We’re figuring that out,” Manning said of his new role to NJ.com. “The Giants have been so important to me and the last 16 years of my life and really my whole adulthood. We’re going to be living in the same area so just wanted to see if there’s a role there to stay involved in some way. We’re still discussing that, figuring that out, but just hope that we can find something, find ways for me to be involved and figure out how that’s going to work out.”