When the American Cancer Society offered Vina Morris a ticket to a New York Giants game, she figured that was the extent of it. She’s a breast cancer survivor and founded a non-profit to help promote breast cancer awareness. This seemed like a nice, small reward.
What she didn’t know was what came next. When she got to MetLife Stadium, she was quickly escorted to the field, where she posed for photos with other breast cancer survivors. That’s when Giants quarterback Jameis Winston snuck up from behind the group.
And then he gave Morris two tickets to Super Bowl LXI.
“I had no clue,” Morris, who founded AfroPink, told me on Monday. “I was just asked, as a survivor, if I wanted to go to a Giants game. That was all. I was completely surprised. Oh my God, did you see me? I was jumping up and down like a little girl. I was so giddy and happy and excited.”
That’s just part of the joy the 32-year-old Winston tries to bring with his yearly gathering of breast cancer survivors at one of his games during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This year, in partnership with the NFL and the American Cancer Society, he invited a group of 10 survivors to watch the Giants’ game on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Once there, they were given blue Giants T-shirts with Winston’s No. 19 in pink on the front. They also got tickets for a suite and pre-game passes for down on the field. That’s when Winston showed up for photos, to present Morris with her Super Bowl tickets, and to thank the survivors for their ability to “still rise every single day, no matter those circumstances, and put on that smile and shine bright like the sun we have today.”
“It’s one of the most rewarding things I get to do,” Winston told me. “We want to give these women a special experience, but every year I feel like I’m the one walking away blessed. Hearing their stories, sharing some laughs and just spending time together means so much. Football is a game we love, but opportunities like this remind me that our purpose goes far beyond what happens on the field.”
Helping breast cancer survivors has become a passion for Winston, who has held an annual event at games since he was with the New Orleans Saints in the early 2020s. He was inspired by the stories of his Aunt Lois in Birmingham, Alabama, and his Aunt De-De and cousin Tonda in Louisville, Kentucky, who are all survivors of the terrible disease.
“Seeing what they’ve gone through and how they’ve continued to fight really puts things into perspective,” Winston told me. “It started with wanting to honor them, but God has blessed me with a platform to encourage so many other women and families going through that same battle.”
Jameis Winston interacts with breast cancer survivors before the Giants’ Week 6 game against the Saints. (Joe Hernandez)
That encouragement and recognition mean a lot, and so does the awareness Winston brings with his actions. It’s a disease that affects one in eight women, according to the American Cancer Society, which estimates that 321.910 women will be diagnosed with it in 2026 alone, and 42,140 will die.
And for the many, many survivors, there is no escape from their diagnosis. “We never stop thinking about it,” Morris told me. “We might not talk about it a lot, but trust me, it’s on our minds constantly.
“And it’s gestures like that, that can brighten someone’s day to know our lives matter, our stories matter. But it also brings to the national stage that people are surviving this. It doesn’t have to be a death sentence. You have support.”
Jameis Winston gifts cancer survivor Super Bowl tickets
That support is the primary reason Winston holds this event. He knows, from his own experiences with his family members, that it’s important that women with breast cancer know they’re not alone.
“What people don’t understand is that as breast cancer survivors, it’s a very lonely journey for some of us, if you don’t have any support,” Morris told me. “So it means a lot when you have a celebrity, a quarterback of the New York Giants, who wants to do something nice for you and brighten your day. (Breast cancer) changes you forever. So to know someone who is willing to do something to help celebrate the trials and tribulations that we go through as survivors, is nothing short of amazing.”
(Photo courtesy of Joe Hernandez)
Winston feels the same way about the survivors. He was inspired to do this by the way his aunts and cousin fought. But he finds more inspiration in every woman he meets who’s fought that battle, too.
“These women are the definition of strength and resilience,” Winston said. “They’ve faced challenges that most people can’t even imagine, and they continue to show up with courage, faith and a positive spirit. That’s inspiring to me. They remind me to be grateful, to keep fighting through adversity and to never take a single day for granted.
“If I can encourage them even half as much as they encourage me, that’s a win.”
That’s why, when he handed the Super Bowl tickets to Morris, he called it a “small” gesture, especially “compared to what you’re doing and what you’re achieving.” She earned the tickets not only through her own battle, but for founding AfroPink in 2020 — a non-profit she told me is about “awareness, access and action” (AfroPink.org). She used her own story to make sure people have access to “factual information” about breast cancer, as well as knowledge of how they can take action about their health, and how they can survive.
“Vina has an incredible story,” Winston told me. “To overcome breast cancer twice and then dedicate herself to helping other women through AfroPink says so much about who she is. She’s using her experience to make a difference in other people’s lives, and that’s exactly the kind of impact we want to celebrate.”
Morris believes Winston should be celebrated, too.
“First of all, anyone that wants to work to help others, when you have the means to do so, is a great human being to me,” she told me. “And he’s just an amazing human being. That’s just a really nice thing to do.”
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