Former NFL Star Deangelo Williams Pays for 500 Mammograms in Honor of Mother Killed by Breast Cancer

Former NFL running back DeAngelo Williams is honoring his mother the best way possible. According to People, Williams paid for 500 mammograms to honor his mom who passed away from breast cancer back in 2014. The mammograms were paid for through The DeAngelo Williams Foundation and it will help women who are being treated in hospitals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

“To be able to help all these women is amazing. This can be life-changing for these women,” Williams said. “We are enabling them to get this care that no one should ever be denied or not have access to.”

Williams’ mom, Sandra Hill, was diagnosed with the disease in 2004. After his mother’s passing, Williams, who was with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015, asked the NFL if he could wear pink all year instead of just in October. The league denied his request because he was told, “there are no exceptions to the uniform policy.”

“The same way it made you feel after you heard it — like, man,” he said when he was informed of the news by NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent via ESPN. “He told me no. I’m assuming they are telling everybody else no as well. … It wasn’t about selling it. You know and I know and everybody else knows before I made the phone call.”

In 2014, Williams launched the “53 Strong for Sandra” program which provided free mammograms to 53 women in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. 53 is important to Williams because that is the age when his mother passed away. As mentioned, it has grown in a big way.

“DeAngelo wants to ensure that no woman (or man) fights breast cancer alone,” Risalyn Williams, his wife and executive director of The DeAngelo Williams Foundation, said.

Williams’ foundation has a Facebook page and a number of people have shown their support, one person wrote, “As a breast cancer survivor, thank you. Your Mom is smiling down at the lives you are touching and saving. My Mom was recently diagnosed with the same breast cancer as I. No one wants to have cancer, but no survivor wants anyone they love to have to walk their journey.” Another person wrote, “I am a 2-time survivor, once when I was 39, next when I was 52. I am now 70. Mammograms found it both times. Bless you for all your efforts!”

Williams played in the NFL from 2006-2016 and he was a member of the Steelers and the Carolina Panthers. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2009 and he led the league in rushing touchdowns in 2008 and 2015.