They’re striking out prostate cancer!
Doctors, local celebrities, and baseball fans stepped up to the plate at Coney Island’s MCU Park on July 24 to raise awareness about prostate cancer and celebrate the opening of Maimonides Medical Center’s new prostate facility.
“It was nice to see how many different parts of the community came out,” said Adam Stoltz, the vice president of Strategy & Administration at Maimonides.
Employees at Maimonides faced off against a team of celebrities assembled by the news network WABC — including retired Yankee player Jim Leyritz, former football player Sean Landeta, men’s fashion designed Joseph Abboud, and stand-up comedian Jim Breuer. But despite WABC’s star-studded line-up, the Maimonides physicians swept the competition, winning the softball game 7-4.
But to Stoltz, the event was less about winning than it was about the cause. One in nine American men is diagnosed with prostate cancer, and the disease claims 30,000 lives annually, Stoltz said.
“It’s a major issue in New York City communities,” he lamented.
To fight the deadly disease, Borough Park’s Maimonides Medical Center opened a prostate center earlier this year that uses high-frequency ultrasound technology to kill cancerous cells. The center’s innovative, noninvasive procedure is the first of its kind on the East Coast, Stolz claimed, and last week’s softball game tipped locals off to the good news.
“It helped us get the word out,” said Stolz.
In addition to the game, Maimonides honored three employees and one community leader whose contributions have made the new prostate center possible. To Stolz, that recognition stuck with him more than the game itself.
“As fun as the game was, some of the most important moments was when we honored these folks,” Stolz noted.
