‘Pink Troops’ to the Field
By: BoriQa | September 18th, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
By Esteban Pagán Rivera / Primera Hora
(English Translation)
Right at the last stretch of the regular season, the Puerto Rico Islanders tonight will have extra motivation.
The Island’s team will host the Portland Timbers at Juan Ramón Loubriel stadium in a game where they will leave aside their traditional orange color to wear pink, in a show of solidarity with the “Fundación Susan G. Komen” and the battle against breast cancer.
The idea was proposed by midfielder Christopher Nurse, who suffered closely the pain of the disease when he lost his mother, Patricia Valeree McGill Nurse, a victim of breast cancer in 2004.
“After I got injured against the Galaxy (August 4th), I was told that it would take me between four to eight weeks to recover. I knew that I would have lots of spare time while waiting to recover, so I looked for a way to utilize this spare time. I wanted to work for a foundation related to something that was close to my heart, because my mother died of breast cancer”, explained Nurse in an interview yesterday with Primera Hora.
Therefore, Nurse approached the team, and both the management and his team mates were willing to help. That’s why tonight, besides for wearing the pink color, the Islanders will raffle 25 pink jerseys to the fans present at Loubriel stadium. The cost of the tickets for the raffle is $5.00, which will be donated to the “Fundación Susan G. Komen”.
“At this stage of my life I am playing well professionally for the Islanders, so I believe it is a good way to return to the community and to try to make a precedent to be followed. It was very important to me personally”, said Nurse, original from England.
The midfielder hopes to raise $5,000 to donate to the Foundation. Through donations over the Internet, he has already collected around $2,500.
Regarding the game tonight, Nurse hopes that his team mates will play to give everything on the field. The match, scheduled for 8:00 p.m., is the last one at home for the USSF Div2 regular season. Currently, the Islanders are in 6th place with 36 points, while Portland already has a playoff spot with 42 points.
“I hope the players understand the beauty of life… We must play every game like it was our last one. One does not know when everything may end due to an injury or an accident”, added Nurse.
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