Anthony Rizzo donates $3.5 million toward children’s cancer treatments

Anthony Rizzo was treated for cancer as a teenager.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo will donate $3.5 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, his foundation announced. 

The donation will be used to lend financial assistance to families who have trouble covering the cost of their children’s cancer treatments. The hospital has also renamed a waiting room after the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. 

Rizzo was treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma as an 18-year-old minor leaguer in the Red Sox system. 

“As a survivor of cancer myself, I know the emotional and financial strain the diagnosis of cancer can put on a family,” Rizzo said in a statement. “I believe that an individual does not battle cancer alone — his or her entire family does. That's why we've designated this money to go directly to help families on the front lines.”

Rizzo follows in the footsteps of NHL star P.K. Subban, who donated $10 million to the children’s hospital in Montreal.