SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Former New England Patriots guard Joe Andruzzi had a successful career in the NFL, winning three Super Bowls, but his biggest victory came when he had to fight for his life after a cancer diagnosis ended his football career in 2007.
That victory led to Andruzzi and his wife Jen Andruzzi creating the Joe Andruzzi Foundation in 2008, a nonprofit that helps cancer patients and their families pay rent, mortgages and other financial hardships. Fifteen years later, the foundation has raised more than $100 million and helped 40,000 patients across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and other New England states.
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the Joe Andruzzi Foundation kicked off the New England Road Trip with three events in Rhode Island. Joe Andruzzi said the road trip is a series of events across New England to help raise awareness and funds, while bringing smiles and support to the cancer patients, their families, doctors, social workers and others affected by these diagnoses.
On March 31, the foundation held a charity trivia night at Audrey's Coffee House & Lounge in South Kingstown. It was hosted by Patriots fan and former contestant on the Bachelor, Jared Haibon. During the event, Joe Andruzzi thanked fans and foundation supporters personally, posed for photos and let them try on his Super Bowl rings.
Prior to the event, the Andruzzis sat down with Patch to talk about the foundation and how Joe Andruzzi's past cancer diagnosis inspired him to make the charity his calling after football.
When battling non-Hodgkin's Burkitt's lymphoma, Joe Andruzzi spent more than 50 days in the hospital. He said he didn't see his kids the entire summer. He made great progress at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, but Joe Andruzzi said going home was when the biggest improvements came.
"My doctor was a big believer that you get better at home," Joe Andruzzi said. "Being in the hospital, the walls close in on you. You just want to be able to help anybody, anyway, which you can."
But because of the cost of cancer treatment, including hiring at-home health care workers, this type of treatment is not always possible for many cancer patients.
According to the National Cancer Institute, the average cost of cancer care in the year after diagnosis is $42,000. In some cases, that number can exceed $1 million.
Joe Andruzzi said that's why the foundation focuses on what many cancer nonprofits don't. Rather than medical costs and research, the primary focus of the Joe Andruzzi foundation is providing grants to help with rent, mortgages, utilities and other household expenses.
"I was fortunate to play in the NFL for 10 years," Joe Andruzzi said. "Others live paycheck to paycheck, and you get hit with a diagnosis like that, it really puts you down. Medical bills can be put on payment plans, but you know you want to stay in your house, you want to be as comfortable as you can in your treatment in order for yourself to get better."
Joe Andruzzi also credited his wife, who planted the seeds for starting the foundation, while she was at his bedside in the hospital, while also becoming "the overall caretaker and my number one nurse."
"How I grew up is just making sure everyone is OK, foundation President Jen Andruzzi said. "I think that is how I became as an adult."
Jen Andruzzi said she often volunteered with Patriots owner Robert Kraft's late wife, Myra Kraft, but running a nonprofit was something completely new for her. She said it required her to do a lot of research to get the foundation off the ground.
"I’m a hustler, I love to learn," Jen Andruzzi said. "Nonprofits are businesses we have accounts payable, we have HR. We have those things, and without them, we couldn’t do what we do."
The Joe Andruzzi Foundation's next leg of its road trip across New England is in Massachusetts and begins in May. Then, the Andruzzis will make stops in Vermont in June, Maine in August, New Hampshire in September and Connecticut in November.
Learn more about the Joe Andruzzi foundation and its anniversary road trip events on the foundation's website.
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