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Kids & Family

Chicago Bear Corey Wootton Urges Breast Cancer Awareness

Wootton shares how breast cancer has touched his life and encourages men to "nag" women to put detection plans in place.

By Cristel Mohrman 


Chicago Bears Defensive End Corey Wootton traded his uniform for a pink dress shirt Tuesday, when he urged men to encourage women to adopt breast cancer early detection plans.

Wootton spoke of three family members who lost their battles with the disease and of his mother-in-law, who is a survivor, during a press conference at Halas Hall. 

“If you think about it, every family is its own team, and just like in football, when one player is down, the entire team is impacted. It’s up to the rest of the team to support them and help them pull through,” he said. “For me, this means ensuring that the women in my life, the women that are close to me, partake in the early detection of breast cancer and they have their plans in place.”

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“Anything that can be done to diagnose cancer before it gets into a life threatening stage is of the utmost importance,” Wootton said.

His remarks kicked off a breast cancer awareness campaign by the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Proctor & Gamble.

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He was joined by Janelle Hail, founder and chief executive officer of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, who traveled to Lake Forest from Dallas to help launch the campaign.

Having a professional athlete on board “enormously raises the awareness,” said Hail, who is a 33-year breast cancer survivor. “It brings a spotlight on the issue of breast cancer.”

Wootton continued his awareness effort on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. 

"Men nag your women, but this time to raise awareness for early detection of breast cancer. This type of nagging saves lives," he tweeted.

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