‘Pitch for the Cure’ helps Pollard family remember loved one who lost her life to cancer

There are a few moments throughout Otto Klein’s 24 seasons with the Spokane Indians that have managed to stick well in his memory.

The senior vice president of the Indians remembers about 10 years ago seeing a man standing at a desk at Avista Stadium. The man had immediately caught Klein’s eye because he had a tattoo of a pink ribbon on the back of his head.

“I kind of glanced at it. And this was before tattoos on someone’s head was a little bit – well it’s still pretty rare. But this was even longer ago,” Klein said. “I remember thinking, ‘well that’s interesting.’”

Klein noticed that the man, Jim Pollard, was signing up as a participant for the Indians’ Pitch for the Cure, an annual promotion at Avista Stadium that allows families and individuals who have been affected by breast cancer to walk around the stadium and onto the field for the National Anthem.

Klein struck up a conversation with Pollard, who explained to him the significance of the tattoo.

“It’s a pink ribbon on the back of my skull that says, ‘Rhonda Pollard Cancer Survivor,’” Pollard said.

Pollard’s wife, Rhonda, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 when she was 33 years old. Jim got the tattoo the day before Rhonda’s first chemotherapy treatment.

“The rule of thumb is you’re not a survivor until your five years (of being cancer-free) are up,” Pollard said. “I just wanted to show her that she can get through this and that she will always be a survivor.”

After several rounds of treatment, Rhonda was declared cancer-free, which lasted for about five years. She was diagnosed again in 2013 on her 39th birthday with metastatic cancer, which is terminal. She died three months later.

“She was such an outstanding person,” Pollard said. “Her main focal point in her life was raising her two kids, and she did an unbelievable, outstanding job.”

Pollard’s children Zac, 16, and Amber, 14, were seven and four years old when their mother was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2008.

That year, the entire family attended Pitch for the Cure for the first time. Pollard even surprised his wife by singing the National Anthem with families and cancer survivors watching from the field.

Pollard even helped organize the event when it was still fairly new to the stadium. For a few seasons, Pollard would also bring entry forms to the local oncology units to help bring more women and families together at the field.

Pollard’s family didn’t miss a Pitch for the Cure for years following 2008. He and his kids still make it to Avista Stadium for the annual promotion where they meet new faces and are also reunited with past participants during their walk onto the field.

On Saturday, Zac and Amber will attend Pitch for the Cure without their father, who had to leave town for the weekend.

“They really enjoy this event,” Jim Pollard said. “I think it gives them an element of comfort knowing that they’re not alone.”

Zac and Amber will be wearing one of their pink Spokane Indians jerseys that they’ve collected over the seasons. For years, Pollard bought his kids the special pink jerseys that the Indians wear once a year for the Pitch for the Cure. Zac and Amber always chose jerseys with No. 7 and No. 4 on the back, respectively, for the ages that they were when Rhonda was diagnosed.

Jim Pollard originally bought his own jersey with No. 33 on the back to represent his late wife’s age when she was diagnosed, but he and his kids later bought jerseys with No. 39 for Rhonda’s age when she died. Pollard said wearing the No. 39 jersey is his way of encouraging women to get mammograms even in their 30s.

“It just seems like 39 is just such a young age to pass away from breast cancer,” Pollard said. I just want to “make people more aware of it, that it can basically happen to any woman at any age.”

Zac and Amber will join roughly 100 participants this year on the field before the Indians take on Salem-Keizer at 6:30 p.m. They will get to release dark pink balloons after the anthem in remembrance of their mom.

All the participants will have the opportunity to release light and dark pink balloons. The light pink balloons represent those currently diagnosed with breast cancer or who have survived the disease. The dark balloons represent those who have died from breast cancer.

The Indians will auction off their pink jerseys and all proceeds from the auction, entry forms and donations will go to Every Woman Can, an organization that supports women and families in their fight against breast cancer.

“They (the Indians) really do honestly care about helping to promote the fight against breast cancer,” Pollard said. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for them.”